| Overall Grade: |
C |
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| Story: |
D+ |
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| Acting: |
B- |
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| Direction: |
C+ |
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| Visuals: |
C |
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This ain't no Rocky
by Wade (movies profile)
Jan 29, 2008
Play it to the Bone is a long piece done by Ron Shelton, who has done some other good sports oriented movies like Bull Durham and White Men Can't Jump. In Bone, he turns his attention to boxing.... sort of.
Most of this movie is a road trip/buddy comedy movie as Cesar (Banderas), Vince (Harrelson), and Grace (Davidovich) drive from LA to Vegas for their fight. Most of the chatter along the way is garbage, stuff you might talk about with your friends on a road trip, but not something you want to spend an hour watching or screen. Nor will you find yourself laughing very much at what is supposed to be a buddy comedy.
I am an Antonio Banderas fan, and Woody Harrelson usually does a very good job as well, but the Grace character was just reprehensible in my opinion. Supposedly so in love with the two boxers she constantly plays them off each other to get the best performance out of each of them. I guess it's supposed to be the strong, independent woman role, but she comes off as a two faced harpy in my opinion.
The movie seems to culminate in the brutal bloody match between Cesar and Vince, but is made stupid by Vince's constant visions of a fat Jesus, and another homophobic joke at Cesar's expense. Not to mention, although the fight is pretty intense, you know it's going to be a draw fairly quickly, and then the movie struggles on after the fight.
I don't think this movie could have been saved, but I would've ended the movie ala Rocky 2, where they punch each other in the ring and you end the movie, leaving the audience to guess. Of course that would've been more inane chatter on the car ride up, so perhaps I've spared the world a worse fate. |
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