Cinderella Man
Studio: Universal Pictures
Rated: PG-13
Website: http://www.cinderellamanmovie.com/index.php
Release Date: 2005-06-03
Cast: Russell Crowe, Renée Zellweger, Bruce McGill, Ariel Waller, Paddy Considine
Director: Ron Howard
Screenwriter: Cliff Hollingsworth, Akiva Goldsman, Ron Howard
Music Score: Thomas Newman
WorkNameSort: Cinderella Man
Our Rating: 3.00
As Depression-era sports stories go, Seabiscuit is looking better all the time. Though terminally obvious, it was at least willing to take a stand on behalf of New Deal policies. Ron Howard’s Cinderella Man instead uses the life of boxer James J. Braddock to argue that massive economic downturns are just plain old bad luck, that labor organizers are alcoholic malcontents prone to violence, and that taking public assistance is a personal shame that should be rectified by repaying the government in full as soon as one gets a chance. You can envision Dubya hauling the flick out on tour to help sell the cause of dismantling Social Security, though our prexy would be no more able than the next man to keep his peepers open as this well-acted but textually mediocre picture approaches a big-bout climax that’s actually less invigorating than the brother-can-you-spare-a-dime domestic drama that’s preceded it. And while Renée Zellweger’s performance as Mrs. Braddock isn’t quite the travesty her previous work had led me to expect, I still deeply distrust a boxing movie in which the leading lady is the one who seems most likely to be wearing a mouth guard.
This article appears in Jun 8-14, 2005.