Cinderella Man
—Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections
Cinderella Man will likely have large crowds and lots of happy people after they’ve seen the film. It will likely get favorable reviews (probably many raves) and people are already talking about Oscar nominations. I don’t begrudge Cinderella Man any of this. It is a well made, uplifting film that speaks to the hope that the American dream holds out to those who need a little bit of luck or a second chance. 
But (and from the previous paragraph you knew there had to be a “but�) after seeing the film, I just felt there was something missing. Maybe it’s because as well done as it is, it doesn’t make the top of any of the genres you could put it in. Ali, Raging Bull, Million Dollar Baby, and even the better films in the Rocky series are better boxing movies. Seabiscuit is a better “hope-of-the-nation-in-the-midst-of-depression� film. Gladiator is better with Russell Crowe as someone who’s lost everything and gets back to the top to fight the bad guy. Still, Cinderella Man is a good film. It just doesn’t make it to greatness.
I think one of the things that I find wanting is that the main character, James L. Braddock is such a nice guy. That sounds strange that I don’t want him to be so nice, but he is flawless. He never loses his temper. He never does anything that even borders on being wrong. Even when Max Baer (the incarnation of evil in the film) says things about Braddock’s wife, Jimmy does nothing while his manager and his wife respond in justified anger.
That lack of any flaws makes Braddock rather uninteresting. True, his rise from the soup line to fighting for the title is inspirational, but the only thing he has battled is luck. Things were hard for many during the Great Depression, which made people identify with Braddock. But it is hard to imagine a man as bland as Braddock is in this film managing to gather the attention of the nation.
It could be that Ron Howard is creating a black and white world. Braddock is the good guy, Max Baer the bad guy (although he was not as malicious as he’s portrayed in the film.) Braddock is the guy who can’t pay his electric bill; Baer lives large as the world champion. Braddock is a family man; Baer is always in the company of two women. Braddock represents wholesomeness.
Therein is part of the problem. It’s easy to cheer on a wholesome hero fighting against external forces of evil. But far more satisfying, at least from my point of view, are those heroes who struggle to overcome the weaknesses in themselves to find success.
Don’t get me wrong. This is a film worth seeing and enjoying. Certainly, you could do worse for a summer flick than Cinderella Man. You may even come away from the film inspired to push on against a tide of bad luck in your own life.
—Overview
—Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections
4 Comments:
Darrel I felt almost exactly the same way you did about the film. Darn good, but not great. I felt like it became cliche as it moved forward. Ebert said it went a different way than he anticipated, yet I could see everything coming a mile away.
SPOILERS:
I especially cringed at the inter-cut scenes where Braddock draws inspiration from thinking of his family ... and later the same thing when his wife pictures being a widow. I'm not sure why, but all of this IN YOUR FACE filmmaking just felt too overt. A little subtlety would've gone a long ways. I know it's a Lowest Common Denominator decision, but it feels like they don't respect and audience's intelligence when they throw it in someone's face like that. Then again, not many people see as many films as we all do.
SPOILER END.
Very good, but not great movie.
8/10
Last comment from:
-- Benn
Darryl, if the movie had truly represented history it would have been the movie you wanted, and I agree. Braddock was a good man, went through a lot to get to the place he needed to be and succeed, but, Ron Howard took far too many liberties with the true history of the situation. Truth is that Baer was not the animal the movie portrayed. His son Max Baer Jr. has been very outspoken about the revisionist history that Howard wrote. Truth is, that while Baer was an animal, he was no where near the killer portrayed in the movie. After his bout where a man died, he lost 5 of his next 6 matches, and, he paid for the families funeral expenses and started a fund for the family. Also is the misrepresentation of Braddock himself.
Few people realize that he did not fight again until 2 years later, against Joe Louis. A fight he lost but also a fight where he required in the contract 15% of Lewis's earnings for every fight he would ever fight thereafter. Lewis paid up and honored the contract and did pay Braddock 15% of the earnings for every other fight he ever fought. Little tidbits conveniently left out of the movie to make the hero more appealing. The sad thing is, that even knowing that the story is still an appealing story, just too bad that the characters had to be made worse and better than they really were.
In general, I don't mind filmmakers jockying the facts of "true stories". And it could be that Howard pushed the envelope of his dramatic license a bit far here. I think one of the things that bothered me from a storytelling aspect is that I left the film wanting to know more about Baer - I found him to be a far more interesting character than Braddock.
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