Movie Review: Cinderella Man

Ron Howard has a gift. He can show a historical story, for which we all know how it turns out (even if only because reviews of his films give it away), and still make it dramatic and keep you on the edge of your seat and perhaps bring a tear to your eye. He did it with Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, and does it again with Cinderella Man.

Cinderella Man tells the true story of boxer James J. Braddock an up-and-coming fighter in the twenties who lost a title fight with Tommy Loughran and watched his career decline. This coincided with the Great Depression and Jim and his family fell on very hard times. He then got an opportunity to fight a strong contender and in a great upset, won which he parlayed into an opportunity to fight Max Baer for the title. Baer had killed two men in the ring before and Braddock was a 10:1 underdog. Boxing was a popular sport at the time and Braddock became the nations hero.

It's a rousing story and Howard tells it well. Russel Crowe does his typical fantastic job in the role. He's believable as a fighter and as a proud father and loving husband willing to do anything to provide for his family. It's an Oscar caliber role and at this point in the year Crowe's guaranteed of a nomination. I normally like Renée Zellweger, but I found her squinting face a bit distracting until late in the film when she had some very strong scenes before the Baer fight. Paul Giamatti is perfect as Braddock's manager.

While Crash is the best film of the year, this is second. It's a shame that after 4 weeks in theaters it's only made $50 million, that's slightly more than Crash, about a third of what the Longest Yard made in 5 weeks and less than a quarter of what Madagascar made in 5 weeks. Part of it is probably that it seems more like a fall film than a summer one. I suspect there are two reasons for this release date. First, the Baer v Braddock fight happened on June 13, 1935, so it was near the 70th anniversary of the fight. But since there was no advertising to this affect, it probably isn't the reason, more likely that this way the DVD can come late in the year for Oscar season.