Cinderella Man   

Jim Braddock: Russell Crowe

Mae Braddock: Renee Zellweger

Joe Gould: Paul Giamatti

Max Baer: Craig Bierko

Mike Wilson: Paddy Considine

Directed by Ron Howard

Screenplay by Cliff Hollingsworth

and Akiva Goldsman

Fortunately, my knowledge of boxing history is fairly limited, so the story of James J. Braddock was new to me.  A boxer hit hard by the Depression who lost his license to fight and had to go to the docks every morning, hoping to get picked for work just so he could keep his family together in their small apartment.  He became the face of a nation down on its luck, and as he started to fight again, and win, he soon became its hope. 

Cinderella Man is skillfully directed by Ron Howard (one of the most under appreciated directors in Hollywood), and is probably his best work since Apollo 13, if not his best direction ever.  He keeps the audience guessing by not giving anything away.  The turns in the story are unexpected right up to the end as the ring announcer reads the decision to the final bout. 

A lot of times in the past, Howard would be accused of his often maudlin or sappy touches to his films, but he is able to avoid that here and lets the story speak for itself.  The fight scenes are the best I’ve ever seen, forgoing the cartoonishness of the Rocky sequels for realism and accuracy.  I felt myself dodging punches on more than a few occasions as he gets the camera right in between the fighters in their faces. 

Howard, who always gets good performances in his movies, is helped out immensely by the superb acting across the board.  Russell Crowe makes another outstanding performance look effortless as Braddock, combining his confidence in the ring with his fear and apprehension outside of it during the Depression.  Renee Zellweger plays his wife Mae to near perfection and Paul Giamatti continues his string of impressive performances as long-time manager and trainer Joe Gould. 

Aside from an underdeveloped storyline involving Mike Wilson (Paddy Considine), a friend of Braddock’s, the movie flows along nicely, culminating in the final heavyweight bout with dominating champion Max Baer.  Howard brings both fighters to life and makes Baer more than just a faceless champion, giving him personality and color. 

Cinderella Man benefits from a simple and straightforward story.  There is not much nuance here within any of the characters, but there shouldn’t be.  A fighter is up, falls down hard, and is able to pick himself back up again.  The fact that so many people found something in his story that they could relate to is the key aspect of the account of Jim Braddock’s life.  And this is where Ron Howard excels. 

Any director would have been able to put together a film about this man and make you root for him in the end.  However, Howard is able to make you feel like one of the many millions of people suffering through the Depression as you root for Braddock to make good on all the desire you have to get through it.  His success automatically becomes your success.