Thoughts on Cinderella Man?

I hold so much respect for this film.

I appreciate the storytelling of the dark and grim times of The Great Depression as it's not something you hear about every day. The contrast of rich and poor, business and humanity and depression and determination is realistic, horrifying and eye opening.

The movie focuses on the dark side of things for about 80% of the time, reinforced by the captivating acting of Russell Crowe and Renée Zellweger. They portrayed the emotions of hopelessness, sorrow, determination and gratefulness so well that I was brought to tears multiple times. Any movie which gets tears out of me has done something very right.

The song, Inside Out by Thomas Newman is absolutely incredible. It has the power to successfully convey any emotion which is shown on the screen. This song with the combination of Renée Zellweger's acting is breathtaking.

Fights. Oh yes, there's plenty of that in this movie. I really like the camera work in the ring. Especially the editing with the camera flashes and the still frames. It really gives the feeling of a 1930's setting.

I'd like to hear some of your thoughts and opinions on the film.

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DigitalMediaholic

I like this film a lot more than most people. I can see why some would think it over sentimental, but it works for me in just about every way. It has been a while since I have watched it but as soon as I saw the name of the film pop up I started to recall a couple of scenes I love. Crowe and Zellweger were both excellent. I am pretty much a sucker for a boxing movie so Cinderella Man is right in my wheel house. from me.

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Letterboxd

I didn't care for it. It sort of fell into the same saccharine shtick that Ron Howard is so accustomed to engaging in. Don't get me wrong, the acting is pretty good, but the story itself is unimpressive.

I liked the sentimental aspect to it. Boxing is generally related to punching and bruising, but this movie makes it feel delicate and precious which itself makes the difficult struggle during The Great Depression all the more conveying.

I'm not particularly invested in the sport, but I must admit that I have the urge to buy a speed bag now :P

Thanks for sharing!

It's a great film that I've enjoyed a lot since its release. It's overall a really standard historical drama that was part of the same post-9/11 Great Depression-set theme in movies that was going on for a while. I'd give it a really solid 7/10.

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Cinderella Man definitely had its merits. Ron Howard mounted an atmospheric period piece that beautifully recreated the great depression but the movie is slow and getting through it was work. Russell Crowe was serviceable in the starring role, but I loved Renee Zellweger as his wife. Paul Giamatti's Oscar nominated performance as Crowe's manager was fine (I think the nomination was to make up for being snubbed for SIdeways, but I digress), but personally, the best performance in the film came from Craig Bierko as Max Baer...Bierko commanded the screen and made the character who was on paper the villain of the piece, the most likable character in the movie. A lot of care went into the making of this movie, but it doesn't have a lot of re-watch appeal.

I definitely agree with everything you said, especially about its rewatch value. The weird thing is, I honestly can't figure out why I'm happy enough to rewatch Seabiscuit but not Cinderella Man. They're both very similar, inspirational, period sports dramas.

I've seen it twice, once with the directors commentary. I'm very impressed with the fight choreography and thought it was a great movie overall. Having said that, it has one of the worst titles of any movie I've heard of.