The events are strong enough to keep us gripped, even though the writing and direction are flat and bland.
Cinderella Man (2005)
Tomatometer
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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
Reviews for Cinderella Man
Handsome, manipulative, simplistic. It packs an uplift that bludgeons you into submission.
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
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.
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.
Howard has taken one of the greatest comeback stories ever and turned it into a cloying bit of fluff
So determined to make the audience stand up and cheer that it forgets how to generate anything lasting, other than sheer old-timey nostalgia.
Cinderella Man consistently delivers less than it wants to by trying for more than it should. The movie tells the story of Braddock's life as redemptive fairy tale, fitting the fighter for a glass slipper that ends up being the movie's glass jaw.
Caught up as the film's righteous center, Jim is sustained by his concern for his bland and underwritten family.
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
A worn-out Goodwill version of Rocky that either deserved a less-banal filmmaking approach or didn't need to be made at all.
No ofrece nada nuevo y, a pesar de su impecable factura técnica, aburre hasta la exasperación con su mezcla de previsibilidad y cursilería.
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