QUICK TAKE: Drama: To keep his family together during the Great Depression, a former aspiring boxer climbs his way back into the ring and gets a shot at the heavyweight championship in this inspiring tale based on a true story. PLOT: It's 1933, America is in the depths of the Great Depression, and Jim Braddock (RUSSELL CROWE) is just one of millions who must beg for day jobs just to try to make ends meet. Once a promising professional boxer under manager Joe Gould (PAUL GIAMATTI), Jim has slipped into mediocrity, eventually causing promoter Jimmy Johnston (BRUCE MCGILL) to revoke his boxing license. Needing to support his wife Mae (REN�E ZELLWEGER) and their three kids, Jay (CONNOR PRICE), Rosemarie (ARIEL WALLER) and Howard (PATRICK LOUIS), Jim ends up scraping for work along with the likes of Mike Wilson (PADDY CONSIDINE), a former broker who thinks the men should unionize for better pay.
A proud man, Jim is just concerned with keeping his family together, a proposition that becomes more difficult when their electricity is turned off due to overdue bills. When he's just about run out of options, Joe arrives with a temporary financial reprieve. A heavyweight bout needs a last minute contender to battle the number two boxer in the world, and it will be Jim's swan song in the sport.
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(Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).
OUR WORD TO PARENTS: The following is a brief summary of the content found in this drama that's been rated PG-13. Profanity consists of at least 9 "s" words, while other expletives and colorful phrases are also uttered. Some brief, sexually related dialogue is present, a married couple does some kissing (in one scene the wife is straddling the seated husband -- both are clothed) and a shirtless boxer is seen with several women dressed in bed-like attire.
All sorts of hard-hitting and sometimes brutal boxing violence is present (shot in a "you're in the ring" fashion, while film footage shows a fatal boxing blow from a past bout). Some of that has bloody results. Some police beat a man in a park and we later see that he and others have been killed (noted by a mass burial).
Some of that material may be unsettling or suspenseful to some viewers, while various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes. Various characters smoke and/or drink, with one being rather intoxicated. Tense family material involves the death of a minor character's spouse, while a wife worries about her boxing husband, and both parents worry about keeping their family together during dire financial situations.
Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content.
For those concerned with bright flashes of light on the screen, there's some of that from the flicker of a film projector in the movie.
Reviewed May 4, 2005 / Posted June 3, 2005
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