Cinderella Man Reviews

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since I have it on DVD, I was quite eager to check it out again. To be honest, I have to admit that I have never been really a huge fan of Ron Howard's work but this movie still seemed to be interesting though. Indeed, 4 years after his success with 'A Beautiful Mind', Ron Howard was working once again with Russell Crowe and, at first, there was logically a very good buzz about this flick but, somehow, it was completely overlooked when it was released. Indeed, even though it garnered some really good reviews, it was actually a flop at the box-office. Maybe nobody wanted to see yet another flick about boxing? Well, in my opinion, it was actually really good, as a matter of fact, it was actually probably even better than ‘A Beautiful Mind’ . I mean, you could argue that the whole thing was not really original and, indeed, it never reaches the level of ‘Raging Bull’ but I thought it was a very well made and really entertaining sport biopic. Basically, even if it might be quite generic, it is still a really strong and inspiring story and, combined with the Great Depression backdrop, it was actually quite powerful. Apparently, the one who was the most hurt by this failure was neither Ron Howard or Russell Crowe, but Renée Zellweger. Indeed, until this movie, she was definitely on the A list and one of the most sought after actresses, but after this movie failed, her career went all downhill from here. Anyway, in my opinion, even though this movie was terribly overlooked, it is actually a pretty solid feature, easily one of the best directed by Howard, and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I absolutely loved Cinderella Man! It is a masterpiece of sports films and it is that simple. This is the most emotional sport film of all time because it tells the story of a boxer and his wife and three children who are poor and live in a weak and small house. It is emotional because Braddock and his wife struggle to pay the money for their house. I find that this film is the best boxing film since Raging Bull if not the best sports film since then. It was really tense aswell with the boxing matches andwhat the fate of James Braddock was going to be whether he was going to succeed or not. I found it a really beautiful story too because it teaches people of the world what a lot of people who do for their families whether they are rich or poor. It also tells us about what family really is about.


Russell Crowe delivers an absolutely outstanding performance as James J. Braddock. This is one of those sorts of characters that makes Russell Crowe almost perfect for the characters he plays because he is really good at portraying quite aggressive characters and yet emotional aswell which connects his character as Braddock to Maximus Decimus Meridius in Gladiator. His emotional character in this film sort of reminds me of Crowes performance as John Nash in A Beautiful Mind. He should have had an Oscar nomination in this film. I couldn't believe he wasn't. Renée Zellweger delivers in my opinion a rather weak performance as Mae Braddock because the only things that Renée did in that film was weep and weep and weep and weep and weep throughout the whole film. I know that she is meant to act all emotional and everything but I just dont think that she really showed it that much really. Paul Giamatti delivers an absolutely outstanding performance as Joe Gould. His performance was the best from the whole film. He was a typical boxing trainer who really supported Braddock to earn what he needed. These sorts of characters are absolutely brilliant for a supporting character because they support the leading male/female to make the film really good. His character reminds me of Mickey Goldmill in Rocky apart from that I think that Gould is a more powerful and serious character to watch. Giamatti deserved his Oscar nomination. The winner should have been Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain.


The direction was awesome from Ron Howard. He has done a lot of awesome films that are all very hearfelt and emotion like obviously this, A Beautiful Mind (which also starred Crowe), How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Apollo 13 and Splash. He directed this really well but not as good direction as Martin Scorsese in Raging Bull. But Howard adapted a boxing film that re-lives the past boxing spirit so to speak and makes it so realistic when it was in the 1930s too. The scripts was really good too but have listened to better sport scripts. This film is very similar to Rocky because Braddocks character is like Rockys character because they are both poor men who want a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship. The only differences are that Braddock was a family man and Rocky wasnt. Also, Braddock was the only real person between the two. This film was different compared to Ron Howards previous films because this is the first sports film he has ever done and has been his most emotional and touching film since A Beautiful Mind.


This is Russell Crowe's third best performance of all time after A Beautiful Mind and Gladiator. Paul Giamattis best performance and a very disappointing Renée Zellweger performance. This film achieved for me as the best boxing film since Raging Bull and is one of the best and most loved films of 2005.