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Movies / On DVD / Cinderella Man
Cinderella Man

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Cinderella Man (2005)

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Reviews Counted:200

Fresh:160

Rotten:40

Average Rating:7.4/10

Consensus: With grittiness and an evocative sense of time and place, Cinderella Man is a powerful underdog story. And Ron Howard and Russell Crowe prove to be a solid combination.

Runtime: 2 hrs 25 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Academy Award®-winning producer Brian Grazer, director Ron Howard and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (all Oscar® winners for 2001's A Beautiful Mind) are reunited with Oscar® winner Russell Crowe for... Academy Award®-winning producer Brian Grazer, director Ron Howard and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (all Oscar® winners for 2001's A Beautiful Mind) are reunited with Oscar® winner Russell Crowe for the Universal Pictures-Miramax Films-Imagine Entertainment production, Cinderella Man. Starring opposite Crowe is two-time Oscar® nominee Renée Zellweger. Crowe stars in the story inspired by the life of legendary athlete Jim Braddock, a once-promising light heavyweight boxer forced into retirement after a string of losses in the ring. As the nation enters the darkest years of the Great Depression, Braddock accepts a string of dead-end jobs to support his wife, Mae (Renée Zellweger), and their children, while never totally abandoning his dream of boxing again. Thanks to a last minute cancellation, Braddock finds himself back in the ring against the second-ranked world contender--and to everyone's amazement, Braddock wins in the third round. Despite being pounds lighter than his opponents and repeated injuries to his hands, Braddock continues to fight against challengers and win. Carrying on his shoulders the hopes and dreams of the disenfranchised masses, Braddock, dubbed the "Cinderella Man," faces his toughest challenger in Max Baer (Craig Bierko), the heavyweight champion of the world, renowned for having killed two men in the ring. Cinderella Man stars Russell Crowe, Renée Zellweger and Craig Bierko; is produced by Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Penny Marshall; is written by Cliff Hollingsworth, C. Gaby Mitchell, Akiva Goldsman; and is directed by Ron Howard. The film is a Universal Pictures/Miramax Films co-production of an Imagine Entertainment presentation, with Universal Pictures distributing domestically and Buena Vista International handling the international distribution of the film for Miramax. [More]

Starring: Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger, Paul Giamatti, Craig Bierko

Starring: Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger, Paul Giamatti, Craig Bierko, Bruce McGill, Paddy Considine

Director: Ron Howard

Director: Ron Howard
Screenwriter: Ron Howard, Akiva Goldsman, Cliff Hollingsworth
Producer: Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Penny Marshall, Todd Hallowell
Composer: Thomas Newman
Studio: Universal Pictures

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Reviews for Cinderella Man

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Handsome, manipulative, simplistic. It packs an uplift that bludgeons you into submission.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
07/31/08
Leigh Singer
Leigh Singer
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The fight scenes have a stinging authenticity and, although at 144 minutes it outstays its welcome, this is Howard’s best film since Apollo 13

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Mark Salisbury
Mark Salisbury
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The Best Actor Oscar race starts now.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
01/07/06
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's Seabiscuit with fists. Enjoyable, well-made, heartwarming Best Picture fodder that overcomes its achingly predictable story thanks to Oscar-worthy performances from Crowe and Giamatti.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
09/10/05
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

Crowe is at his best in the ring and while it's hardly surprising that he's a convincing bruiser, he also manages to make a rather one-note character compelling.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
08/16/05
Nev Pierce
Nev Pierce
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The events are strong enough to keep us gripped, even though the writing and direction are flat and bland.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
06/09/05
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
04/29/09
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: CHUD | comment Comment
02/27/09
Devin Faraci
Devin Faraci
CHUD

Cinderella Man plays like a movie actively hunting for awards. But it's also a pretty darn good story.

Full Review Source: DVDTalk.com | comment Comment
01/16/09
David Cornelius
David Cornelius
DVDTalk.com

Howard's movie skillfully delivers that primal, heart-pounding satisfaction that is the promise of all boxing tales.

Full Review Source: Newsweek | comment Comment
11/01/07
David Ansen
David Ansen
Newsweek

As for the fights themselves, Howard brings nothing new to the canvas. Like the movie as a whole, they work fine enough, even while encased in leaden certitude.

Full Review Source: Time Out New York | comment Comment
08/17/07
Jay Ruttenberg
Jay Ruttenberg
Time Out New York

Cinderella Man is a contender, but it's not exactly a knockout.

Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | comment Comment
07/14/07
Joe Lozito
Joe Lozito
Big Picture Big Sound

A cross between Seabiscuit (because of the Depression) and Rocky (because of the sport), yet a fine enough film to stand on its own, even if the production falls short of both in terms of its emotional punch.

Full Review Source: Princeton Town Topics | comment Comment
05/07/07
Kam Williams
Kam Williams
Princeton Town Topics

And as far as Cinderella's pumpkins go, though the movie ends with Braddock's boxing triumph in Hollywood's notorious freeze-frame approach to history, both Braddock and Baer went on to be decked by Joe Louis.

Full Review Source: Long Island Press | comment 2 Comments
04/19/07
Prairie Miller
Prairie Miller
Long Island Press

As entertaining and uplifting a film as we'll get all year.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
02/22/07
Rex Roberts
Rex Roberts
Film Journal International

At moments it almost had me, but for the most part I just felt cold and watched with all the interest of a disgruntled spectator.

Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | comment Comment
10/30/06
Garth Franklin
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons

A fine alternative to the louder and more brainless summer movies competing with it -- an excellent drama that relies on heart and action instead of schmaltz and melodrama.

Full Review Source: Christianity Today | comment Comment
09/22/06
Russ Breimeier
Russ Breimeier
Christianity Today

Howard may have replicated the family scenes as accurately as if he'd found film from a camera hidden in the walls of the original Braddock apartment, and yet the movie can't shake the sense that the scenes away from the boxing ring are somehow false

Full Review Source: Movie City News | comment Comment
07/21/06
Douglas Pratt
Douglas Pratt
Movie City News

The film wallows in the poverty and degradation of Crowe and his family, which is a real downer for a supposed feel-good movie . . .

Full Review Source: SA Movie & DVD Magazine | comment 1 Comment
07/06/06
James O'Ehley
James O'Ehley
SA Movie & DVD Magazine

Stirring and inspirational in the best and worst senses of these terms, this fact-based melodram is stamped by the populist and middlebrow sensibility of both director Ron Howard and writer Akiva Goldsman.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
06/01/06
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
 
 
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