with the narrative focus dissipated by trying to show us how much it all mattered back then, it makes it impossible to show us how much it matters now.
Comment
06/02/05
Cinderella Man (2005)
80
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
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... [More]
Starring: Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger, Paul Giamatti, Craig Bierko
Director: Ron Howard
Reviews for Cinderella Man
141 - 160 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Cinderella Man captures the essence of the Braddock experience. Crowe confirms himself as the new Brando. Ready to respect Opie yet?
06/02/05
Comforting and familiar -- and certainly, 2005 has been weak enough to welcome such qualities -- but the best picture of the year? Come on, folks, get a grip.
06/02/05
Most serious movies live in a world of cynicism and irony, and most good-hearted movie characters live in bad movies. Here is a movie where a good man prevails in a world where every day is an invitation to despair.
06/02/05
Top CriticHoward hurts our ability to enjoy this good story by pushing its plot points too insistently.
06/02/05
Top CriticI've never seen a boxing movie that has so convinced me I was seeing a pro bout both real and sustained.
06/02/05
Top Critic...for the more mature audience that would rather a good story than copious F/X, “Cinderella Man” will fill that particular bill.
06/02/05
At the center of all this richness is another irresistible star turn by Crowe. As his Oscar-winning performance in Gladiator proved, no contemporary actor is better at conveying an uncluttered personal integrity and nobility of spirit.
06/02/05
Its charms are skin-deep and rote, technically proficient and signifying very little.
06/02/05
Actor Russell Crowe, who looks like he stepped right out of the 1930's, can apparently do anything and costar Zellweger has never been more appealing...
06/02/05
Forget boxing, this has good moral values, applauding marriage and commitment and personal responsibility with the best representation of the Great Depression ever filmed.
06/02/05
Crowe gives another solid performance, and Paul Giamatti (Sideways, American Splendor) adds to his shining reputation as a top character actor by playing Braddock's lippy manager, Joe Gould.
06/02/05
Ron Howard's film about the heavyweight boxer James J. Braddock is a shamefully ingratiating old-fashioned weepie.
06/02/05
Top CriticHoward's relentless and flat-footed attack on our sympathies slips into monotony. The first half drags on for longer than it should, as we're told over and over that people were poor, very poor. Depressed even. Because it was the Depression.
06/02/05
Ron Howard and his splendid cast have made a spellbinding movie that joins Million Dollar Baby, as well as Raging Bull, the first two Rocky pictures, and Fat City as one of boxing cinema's all-time heavyweight champs.
06/02/05
A tad bipolar, Cinderella Man's still remarkable film making...Russell Crowe is again, master and commander of what it is he does so well.
06/02/05
Crowe's burly poignancy hits you foursquare in the ribs -- right above the ticker. This feels old-fashioned, pure and meat-and-potatoes simple. It's an Irish stew movie.
06/02/05
Top CriticIt's schmaltzy -- but it's schmaltz veined with foie gras.
06/02/05
A powerful combo of history, sentiment and knowing how to ring an audience's bell. The choice of this man to portray, and the man who portrays him are the knockout punches.
06/02/05
It's a thrilling story, all the more amazing for being true.
06/02/05
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