Cinderella Man (2005, DVD)

I hate using the words "brilliant performance". If I do, it's usually in the Pros and Cons section. Just as a quick and easy way of saying "Yeah, sure, the actor did a good job." But in the actual review, where all the detail and the truth comes out, I find that to be kind of a strong expression. Far as that goes, I hate using the word "brilliant" at all. Save that word for pretentious boring films, I'm perfectly happy with a performance that is "intense", "hilarious", or "exciting".

Well, when I was watching Russell Crowe in Cinderella Man, I could think of nothing more apt to describe his performance than simply "brilliant". I don't know a lot about the man's real life; what I have heard hasn't been exactly nice. And as far as acting itself goes, I can see a "brilliant performance" just by watching two strangers have a conversation. So I sure don't give a rat's left ball if I see somebody doing that on the big screen.

But watching Crowe, it was as if I could acutely feel every little bit of what he was feeling. It's almost like I was looking in a mirror. Different though we may be, we all would react (mostly) the same way if we were in his shoes. Crowe captures that feeling impeccably.

He is Jim Braddock, the legendary fighter who took out Max Baer in 15 rounds of relentless brawling. But Cinderella Man isn't so much about what Jim fought against, but more about what he fought for.

Speaking of which, Jim had himself a family back then too. His wife Mae (Ren e Zellwegger) and three kids were a lucky bunch when Jim would win himself a fight and go home with some four-digit figure. Which would be a huge number even today, never mind 80 years ago!

Well, you know what they say about taking your gifts for granted. Jim gets overzealous in a fight one night, and he sustains an injury that renders him unable to fight. Now he can barely work. Throw in The Great Depression and now you've got yourself a family who are literally a few dollars away from living in the streets.

Cinderella Man goes the distance in surrounding you with the desolation felt by the Braddocks. It doesn't just say "Well these guys were really really poor, and their power was about to get turned out". It lets you in on every detail, every penny, every consequence. When the kids get sick, or when Jim gets passed on the elusive shifts at the dock, the hopelessness felt is suffocating.

The camera work is slow and comfortable to watch, with a strange kind of "vibrancy" in spite of its dilute color scheme. This all just makes the fights feel that much more riveting by comparison. They even get so unpredictable as to take two fights several days apart, and throw 'em right at you back to back!

I don't know if I'm a Zellwegger fan or not. Sometimes she pulls off a real surprise like her role in Cold Mountain. Far as that goes, she wasn't too bad in Me, Myself & Irene. And I wouldn't say she's bad here, but she struck me as bored with the role at a certain point. Early on, she fits in well as the mother figure and she's great at it. Later, it feels like she's backed into doing the same thing again and again. I guess it has more to do with the film's switching its focus from family to fame and flamboyance. Not that I'm complaining! When she is with Crowe, they have marvelous chemistry together. The three child actors are also excellent.

Paul Giamatti, always a pleasure to see, plays in the role of Jim Braddock's manager Joe Gould. His situation is a complicated one, better that I don't delve into too much detail about it. When the shadows cross his face, you'll see what a superb portrayer of inner conflict the guy can be.

Cinderella Man is a touching story that briefly loses steam in the middle. However, the final fight is simply unforgettable. In fact, every fight in this film is about as realistic and intense as I ever recall seeing in cinemaboxing. The flashes of white, the close-ups, the delusion, and the thwapping sound effects make it a real headbanging experience, literally. When I say it could almost put you to sleep, you know I don't mean that in the usual way..!

Okay, so I do have one teeny quibble. I'm no history buff, and I certainly don't question the validity of the story. But it just seems like if you really want to do a story that has anything to do with a family overcoming insurmountable odds in The Great Depression, you wouldn't base it around one that had the kind of "connections" Braddock had.

When Jim's boxing streak goes to the crows, the power goes out, and they are $20-something dollars short of being able to pay, Jim goes out and actually begs for money from the guys he used to work for. Which would be excruciating to a person's sense of pride, no doubt. But most people didn't even have that option. And if the Braddocks didn't, it could be possible that the whole "chain reaction" leading to Jim's resurgence would never have happened.

So yeah, not everybody gets a second chance. But not everybody has connections either. I wonder how many people in this world are still waiting on their first chance. Which sounds strangely like something Morgan Freeman says in the similarly themed Million Dollar Baby.

Nevertheless, Jim's fights, from the physical to the psychological, were an inspiration to a lot of people. To question the origin of the possibility is kind of a moot point. Ultimately, the end justified the means. And hey, we got out of it, didn't we? We'll do it again if we have to.

Go see Cinderella Man and I bet you won't complain about your bills again anytime soon!