So far, this great drama directed by Ron Howard and starring Russell Crowe is the summer movie season's real champ.
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
US Box Office: $61,548,295
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
...Seabiscuit crossed with Million Dollar Baby without the messy moral questions.
To say that this is the finest effort ever for the director of Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind is to praise an orchestration of true magnificence.
The story follows an arc similar to another Depression-era tale, 'Seabiscuit,' but 'Cinderella Man' is markedly better and less sentimental.
'The film is ... as rich in Depression-era authenticity as such a picture gets, complete with a palpable air of social decay and personalized despondency.'
'The film is ... as rich in Depression-era authenticity as such a picture gets, complete with a palpable air of social decay and personalized despondency.'
It's a contender movie that you don't have to wait until Christmas to see.
Cinderella Man is a fine production, but the film lacks spark where it needs it most: the boxing ring.
Ron Howard's Cinderella Man is the best American film since another movie that revolved around a boxer, Clint Eastwood's Oscar-winning Million Dollar Baby.
The film by which [director Ron Howard] should henceforth be measured.
Scorsese’s Raging Bull initiated the stylistic flourish of flashbulb punctuation for a flying punch, but Howard turns it into virtually his entire mise-en-scene.
Depression-era boxing story gets a good -- not great -- envisioning from Ron Howard and features good lead work from Russell Crowe.
The rhythms are so familiar it threatens to numb the mind. One at once admires the skill behind it while feeling guilty about falling for it yet again.
At this point in 2005, are you really going to complain about a well-made, well-acted, formulaic sports movie? Me neither.
the first Oscar contender of 2005, and one of the few movies where it's OK for a man to cry (it's about sports, so whip out that hanky, big guy).
Tears are likely to be shed at the end of Cinderella Man, but thanks to Crowe and Howard you won’t know how or where the sucker punch will be coming from.
Oh sure, it's a good movie, but only by process of elimination: You like it because there's no reason NOT to like it.
Moves with footwork that would make the real James J. Braddock proud.
Apes the Rocky series, lifting bits and pieces from all five installments...I begged for Baer to shout in his best Mr. T voice, 'I pity the fool'
Crowe has grit and gravitas to spare, and trims his Gladiator and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World caricatures down to pug-nosed, cauliflower-ear size.
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