“Cinderella Man” (Universal Pictures)
By all rights “Cinderella Man” should be the smash hit of the year. It has the right pedigree with its stars Russell Crowe and Renee Zellwegger, its director Ron Howard, and its screenplay by Akiva Goldsman, Cliff Hollingsworth and Ron Howard. But there is a problem with all this and that is that basically Russell Crowe is playing a horse. Yes, the message and momentum of this movie have been captured recently and that was in the superb film “Seabiscuit.”
Both films concern the depression era and the athletes that gave a nation hope. “Seabiscuit” was about a horse named Seabiscuit while “Cinderella Man” is about a boxer named James J Braddock. Both athletes performed their athletic chores while recovering from injuries. Braddock had a broken hand and Seabiscuit had a broken leg.
In “Seabiscuit” Tobey Maguire played the jockey who loved the horse and inspired him to greatness. In “Cinderella” Renee Zellwegger plays Mae, Braddock’s loving wife, who inspires him to greatness. “Seabiscuit” had a great trainer played by Chris Cooper; “Cinderella” has a great trainer played by Paul Giamatti. And on and on it goes.
Nothing in this comparison should be taken to indicate “Cinderella Man” is not a solid film. It certainly is. And the performances of Crowe, Zellwegger and Giamatti as well as Craig Bierko as boxer Max Baer are all award worthy. The look of the film is amazing and the story is sure to touch the hearts of all that see it.
The movie is rated PG-13 for boxing violence and profanity.
Will the similarity to “Seabiscuit” hurt the box office performance of “Cinderella Man Yes. If you saw the “horse” movie then you will begin to detect the similarities after only a few minutes of viewing “Cinderella Man.” And once you make the connection the movie proceeds down the path of comparison step by step.
These things happen in Hollywood. Movies with the same characters get made within months of each other, or one drops out as did Baz Luhrmann’s “Alexander” story. Or it is movies with similar themes such as the disaster flicks that opened within a few months of each other a few years back (“Deep Impact” and “Armageddon”). It happens and it hurts both movies, and this similarity to “Seabiscuit” will hurt “Cinderella Man.”
Crowe, Zellwegger and Howard should have a hit on their hands. And they would have if it wasn’t for that pesky horse – which got there first.
I scored “Cinderella Man” a midnight striking 7 out of 10.
