Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 12:06 pm
Both Russell Crowe & Ron Howard have something in common. Neither has made a film worth watching since "A Beautiful Mind." When the two teamed up for this flick, there was hope they could recapture some of the competency used in making "A Beautiful Mind." Those hopes are soundly dashed by "Cinderella Man."
In this film, Crowe plays a down & out boxer who seemingly comes from nowhere to contend for the heavyweight title of the world, despite repeated nagging from his wife about his health and children. He ends up becoming an inspiration for an entire city. Sound familiar? You may remember it as "Rocky." However, the script is magnitudes worse. Stallone supposedly wrote the script for "Rocky" in a few days. When your team of writers can't come up w\ better writing than Sly, your movie is fucked from the get-go.
I know Crowe can act; I've seen it. But his character is given little to no depth, and hence he has little opportunity to do anything except mechanically go thru his lines. Renee Zellwegger proves again she can't act worth a good goddamn. Though to be fair, her character was even less worthwhile than Crowe's. Paul Giamatti turns in the only performance worth seeing, & fuck knows it ain't that great.
There are numerous problems here. One happened in preproduction. Casting Russell Crowe as an Irishman yields the same reaction that one would get upon hearing Christian Bale was cast Genghis Khan. The actor simply cannot pull off the part. Crowe is NOT Irish. He doesn't sound Irish, he doesn't look Irish, & no matter what ethnicity his character was supposed to be, he will NEVER be Irish. The script, as has already been mentioned, was average at best. The characters are shallow & one-dimensional, many of the lines feel forced or simply absurd, and the script has one speed -- double plus extra slow.
Then there's Ron Howard's directing. Apparently, Ronnie's trying to be the new Frank Capra. Unfortunately, it's the Capra at the end of his career, churning out sappy, sugary piece of shit after sappy, sugary piece of shit. Ron desperately shoots his scenes trying to coax out emotion that isn't there because of the defects already stated. Calling his effort "flat" is like calling Lola Ferrari "artificial." It wasn't just flat, it was fucking concave.
Verdict : 1.5 stars. Half a star for the boxing backdrop & half a star for Giamatti. And another half for the set design & cinematography. Whoever was in charge did a decent job of recreating the '30s. This is the retarded, redheaded, younger stepbrother of "Rocky."
In this film, Crowe plays a down & out boxer who seemingly comes from nowhere to contend for the heavyweight title of the world, despite repeated nagging from his wife about his health and children. He ends up becoming an inspiration for an entire city. Sound familiar? You may remember it as "Rocky." However, the script is magnitudes worse. Stallone supposedly wrote the script for "Rocky" in a few days. When your team of writers can't come up w\ better writing than Sly, your movie is fucked from the get-go.
I know Crowe can act; I've seen it. But his character is given little to no depth, and hence he has little opportunity to do anything except mechanically go thru his lines. Renee Zellwegger proves again she can't act worth a good goddamn. Though to be fair, her character was even less worthwhile than Crowe's. Paul Giamatti turns in the only performance worth seeing, & fuck knows it ain't that great.
There are numerous problems here. One happened in preproduction. Casting Russell Crowe as an Irishman yields the same reaction that one would get upon hearing Christian Bale was cast Genghis Khan. The actor simply cannot pull off the part. Crowe is NOT Irish. He doesn't sound Irish, he doesn't look Irish, & no matter what ethnicity his character was supposed to be, he will NEVER be Irish. The script, as has already been mentioned, was average at best. The characters are shallow & one-dimensional, many of the lines feel forced or simply absurd, and the script has one speed -- double plus extra slow.
Then there's Ron Howard's directing. Apparently, Ronnie's trying to be the new Frank Capra. Unfortunately, it's the Capra at the end of his career, churning out sappy, sugary piece of shit after sappy, sugary piece of shit. Ron desperately shoots his scenes trying to coax out emotion that isn't there because of the defects already stated. Calling his effort "flat" is like calling Lola Ferrari "artificial." It wasn't just flat, it was fucking concave.
Verdict : 1.5 stars. Half a star for the boxing backdrop & half a star for Giamatti. And another half for the set design & cinematography. Whoever was in charge did a decent job of recreating the '30s. This is the retarded, redheaded, younger stepbrother of "Rocky."