FanUnity B(uzz)log

Russell Crowe is such a tool, that if they ever had a scene bearing his buttocks in a film, I'd expect to see a Craftsman logo tattooed on one cheek. I know this going into every film that I see him in, and yet every time I am completely drawn into his character. He may not be the nicest guy in the world, but Russell Crowe damn sure is finest actor in all of film, and one of the greatest ever.

In "Cinderella Man", it didn't take long for Crowe's Jim Braddock to endear himself to me. After all, if I can't get behind an Irish-American from Northern New Jersey, what can I get behind? "Cinderella Man" is based on the true story of the boxer and the man Braddock's rise, fall and rise again. The film starts with Braddock young and rocketing through the light heavyweight boxing ranks in the late 1920s. Flash forward a few years, to a Great Depression that Braddock's right in the middle of. Constantly injured and scuffling through the low-paying fights he can still get, Braddock's career bottom comes as he re-breaks his broken hand in the ring with a chump, and is stripped of his boxing license. Bearly able to make ends meet as it is, the battered Braddock nearly loses everything including his children. With determination and the love of his wife, he hangs in there, through the lowest of times, until his old manager comes back with one last shot. The boxer scheduled to fight the number two contender is scratched at the last minute, and they need a quick replacement. Braddock steps in, and the pumpkin turns back into a horse-drawn carriage.

In addition to Crowe's phenomenal work as Braddock, which should not be underappreciated even though we have come to expect stellar performances from Crowe, Paul Giamatti is fantastic in the movie. The aformentioned manager, Giamatti's feiry performance works perfectly against Crowe's gritty, determined Braddock. Together they are the perfect teaming of braun and brains, heart and guile, iron will and gumption. Both actors deserve Oscar nominations for their work in the film. Also special mention should go out to Craig Bierko, whose Max Baer is the dispicable foil that the film needed for Braddock. Where Braddock is the everyman, fighting his way up from the gutter in the middle of the Depression, the massive, man-killer Baer is the one a-hole who's living it up while everyone is starving. Now to be fair, I understand the real Max Baer wasn't a bad guy at all, and that every story has two sides, but "Cinderella Man" is Braddock's side, and Baer's characterization plays perfectly in the film.

"Cinderella Man" is one of those films that grabs ahold of your emotions and invests you in the character so much that you find yourself hoping that it doesn't make any cutthroat moves that'll send you over the edge. I feared, throughout the Depression period, that one of Braddock's kids might die. That would have been too much for me. I feared that Max Baer might actually beat Braddock, even up to the last seconds (I didn't know the real outcome of the fight before seeing the movie, so it was a suspenseful to me). That would have been a major bummer. But "Cinderella Man" is truly a cinderella story, and midnight doesn't strike before our hero's achieved his glory.

Sports films are always best when they aren't about the sport itself, but about human drama. This describes "Cinderella Man" perfectly. Boxing is in many ways the purest of all sports, two individuals pitted in competition against each other with only their fists and guts to determine who wins. So it's no surprise that the really great boxing films are the very best sports films. "Cinderella Man" may be the best of them all.

5/5 Stars.