Being a member of Generation X, I'm very spoiled. I grew up during the birth of microwave ovens, remote controls, and cable TV. I want bigger, better, faster, more... and I want it at wholesale. We have it pretty damn good in this country. Sure, we still have some people starving on the streets, but for the most part, we live in an era where even those living in poverty own TVs. Because of that, none of us can truly grasp what it was like to live during the Great Depression. Me personally, I bitch about my job, I bitch about my credit card debt, and I bitch about how I'm gonna have to sell some of my comic books on eBay to buy the new XBox 360. It's pathetic, but that's how most of us are. We're all whiny bitches who don't know shit. If we could truly understand what it was like to live during the Great Depression, we'd all have a better understanding of how good we have it now. "Cinderella Man" is set during the Great Depression, and my heart goes out to anyone who had to suffer through that era.
Moving on...
Just before I write a review (but after I've seen the film), I do research on the movie I'm reviewing. After watching "Cinderella Man," I thought that the story was too perfect to actually have been true, but after doing my research, I found out that it was. In fact, aside from one glaring inaccuracy (which I'll get to later), all the major events shown in this film actually occurred... and that's just amazing to me. What an incredible story! I'm surprised that this is the first time this story was ever put to film. Apparently, there was never even a decent documentary made about it.
"Cinderella Man" is about a boxer named Jim Braddock, but this is not a boxing movie. I don't mean that in the same way that I said that about "Million Dollar Baby," 'cause these two movies are completely different. Actually, I'm gonna leave it at that. Even though this film is based on a true story, I don't think a lot of people KNOW the story, so I'm just not gonna say anything. The best way to see this movie is to walk in knowing as little about it as possible. Just know that it's an excellent film, the fight scenes are surprisingly brutal, and the Great Depression was absolutely horrible.
The movie stars Russell Crowe as Jim Braddock, and it's ironic to me that a man who was such a decent human being in real life is played by such an asshole of an actor. Well, maybe he's not the asshole that the media makes him out to be, but I'm sure it's pretty close to the truth. Asshole or not, Russell Crowe is a phenomenal actor, and once again, he delivers an awesome performance. I still say he shouldn't have won the Best Actor Oscar for "Gladiator" (he deserved the Oscar other times, but not for "Gladiator," an overrated film, by the way), but with "Cinderella Man," I'm sure he'll be getting yet another nomination. He stars in this film with Renée Zellweger, who plays his wife. I've had issues with Zellweger over the last couple of years. I liked her in "Jerry Maguire," and she was good in "Nurse Betty" and "Me, Myself & Irene," but I've grown really annoyed with her recent desire to be in nothing but chick flicks. This isn't to say that I think she's a bad actress, I'm just annoyed with her recent movie choices. She is, however, really good in this movie, and she rises above simply playing the worried wife of a boxer.
After kicking ass starring in "American Splendor" and "Sideways," Paul Giamatti returns to a supporting role, but there's no shame in that. In this movie, he plays Joe Gould, Jim Braddock's trainer, and he delivers the kind of performance we've come to expect from the great Paul Giamatti. His character is very complex, probably the most multi-faceted character in the film, and Giamatti plays him perfectly. Paul Giamatti rules.
Craig Bierko plays Max Baer, the "villain" in the film, and that's something I had a real problem with. A movie this good doesn't need to stoop so low as to turn a competing boxer into a cartoony villain to blatantly manipulate the audience. It rubbed me the wrong way, and when I did my research after the movie, I learned that the movie's one major inaccuracy was the portrayal of Max Baer. He was actually a good man, who many considered to be a friendly guy with a great sense of humor. Not only that, he became a hero of sorts when he boxed Hitler's favorite boxer, Max Schmeling, at Yankee Stadium, where Baer proudly wore a Star of David on his trunks. Anyway, all that stuff aside, Craig Bierko plays Baer well, even though I didn't like the portrayal; though I blame that on the director, not the actor. Bierko has had a lot of work over the years, but the only thing I recognize him from is an episode of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."
The director responsible for turning Max Baer into a villain is Ron Howard, a director whose work I actually admire quite a bit, and truth be told, that one issue is the only real flaw in the movie, so I'll let it go. I've seen most of Ron Howard's films, and of the many I've seen, I liked 'em all. The only one I have issues with is "A Beautiful Mind" (another film with Russell Crowe), and that film won the Oscar for Best Picture... but that's just it; I don't feel the movie deserved it. Like with "Gladiator" and "Chicago" (each one starring one of the leads of this film), I think "A Beautiful Mind" was overrated (though I think it was a lot better than the other two films), and didn't deserve the Oscar. Then again, I called "The Girl Next Door" the third best film of 2004, so what does that tell you? Just so we're clear, I like "Cinderella Man" a lot, and if it were to win the Oscar for Best Picture, I wouldn't call it overrated. It's actually a really great movie with a single flaw that's major to me, but it may not be a very big deal to most other people. This is another great movie from director Ron Howard.
There are two writers responsible for the "Cinderella Man" screenplay, Cliff Hollingsworth (this is his second feature film screenplay, his first being an independent film I never heard of called "Too Good to Be True") and Akiva Goldsman. Yeah, as I've written many times before, I have issues with Akiva Goldsman. I haven't been able to get over the fact that he wrote "Batman & Robin" and helped write "Batman Forever," two movies that REALLY pissed me off. He also wrote "A Beautiful Mind," so Goldsman has worked for Ron Howard before, and last time he did that, Goldsman won an Oscar (my God, it kills me that the man who wrote "Batman Forever" and "Batman & Robin" won an Oscar). But if I can forgive Joel Schumacher (who directed the two horrible "Batman" films), I should be able to forgive Akiva Goldsman, right? And so I'll say here and now that I forgive him. No more trashing Akiva Goldsman. Besides, he helped write "I, Robot," a movie I liked a lot, and he did a great job with the "Cinderella Man" screenplay. It's all water under the bridge, Akiva! But if he ever goes near another "Batman" movie, or if he ever goes near ANY comic book movie, I'm gonna go nuts.
"Cinderella Man" is an excellent movie, and even though it's early in the summer, it's likely to be remembered when it's time for the Academy to list their Oscar nominations. Yes, I have issues with how Max Baer was portrayed, but other than that, this is a great movie.
Scale of 1-10: 9