| Overall Grade: |
A+ |
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| Story: |
A |
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| Acting: |
A+ |
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| Direction: |
A+ |
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|
| Visuals: |
A+ |
|
|
Wow!
by Yousef R (movies profile)
Sep 10, 2007
19
of
27 people found this review helpful
Who was this Jimmy Braddock who intertwined with so many of these figures? A 1920s fighter of promising merit — his fall in fortunes is conveyed in a brilliant transition — he was a dock laborer by 1933 on the rare days he could find work.
Renee Zellweger plays Braddock's wife, trying to feed three kids in basically one room with no place to cry (except outside in the snow; that was the Depression for you). She has several strong scenes that the amazing Crowe also makes special. Let Crowe enter a nightspot in real life, and the thoughts of many bartenders turn to bubble-wrapping the glassware. But on screen, this master and commander projects sensitivity like no one else around.
Paul Giamatti has a likable turn as Braddock's manager, and Craig Bierko puts a superbly idiosyncratic spin on Baer, a fatal puncher whose butchering of Carnera in a pre-Braddock bout still chills 70 years later. |
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