It’s a tradition amongst me and my friends to see a movie on Christmas. Once our collective families have drunkenly driven themselves home from their cheesy-sweater laden festivities, the night is usually still young, and my friends and I play like Jews for a few hours by checking out whatever the hot ticket at the multiplex happens to be. Most of the time, it turns out to be a great time (last year was Sherlock Holmes), but sometimes it proves to be awful(Fuck you, AVP:Requiem). This year was probably the most exceptional year so far, for not only did we rock the double feature, but both movies were quite good. We saw “True Grit”(as did all other Christmas moviegoers) and “The Fighter”. My buddy and fellow film lover, Scott Pagnotti, went to both of these movies together, it’s only fair that he be included in the conversation.
Dan: Welcome Scott, Happy 2011, fuckface! It’s been 6 years since we’ve last heard from David O. Russell. Wait, scratch that. We’ve heard plenty from Russell. I refer of course to the on-set argument between him and Lily Tomlin that circled the video-interwebz in which he calls her the C-word. Yes, that C-word. It has been 6 years, however, since his last feature, “I Heart Huckabees”, a movie that’s so wildly different than his even earlier feature, 1999’s “Three Kings”, that I was very curious to see what “The Fighter” would do for me. To the uninitiated, “The Fighter “ is the true story of fighter Mickey Ward(Mark Wahlberg), and his one last shot at a title before he’s too old to make another go at it. At his back is his brother, former prize fighter Dickey Ecklund(Christian Bale), his mother/trainer(Melissa Leo), as well as the rest of his wickedly dysfunctional family. Along the way he meets Amy Adams, who eventually has sex with him and then me. Yes, I’ll take sloppy seconds to Wahlberg.
Going into this movie, I had low expectations, and I can’t figure out why! It has a fantastic cast, including what looked like the first time in years that Christian Bale hasn’t played a somber grumbly, and is lead by one of the few directors that can coax believability out of Mark Wahlberg. It’s not that Wahlberg is a particularly weak actor or anything, but watching a “Shooter” or “The Happening” Wahlberg is more than a few shades different than watching a “Huckabees” or “Boogie Nights” Wahlberg. Wahlberg. Say it. Waaaahhhhhhlberg. David O. Russell has featured Marky Mark prominently in his last three films, and to date, they are some of his finest work as an actor. Despite all of this, I wasn’t expecting much.
Scott: My anticipation was, well, I really didn't have any. To me this was just another Rocky, starring the guy from Invincible, directed by the guy who beat up Lily Tomlin and costarring the guy who beat up a camera man. I guess Russell Crowe was too busy filming Cinderella Man 2. At the very least this movie would be a few laughs. So I donned my yarmulke and traveled to the local movie theatre to see who "The Fighter" actually was. I got much more than a few laughs. The acting and direction painted a picture of a dark, depressing tunnel with a small light which seemed just ahead at every turn, but would we ever see it?
Dan: Not quite sure that Russell beat up Lily Tomlin. Actually, I'm positive he didn't, but for our purposes not only did he beat her up...he beat her to death. Yes, let it be known that Lily Tomlin died for "I Heart Huckbees", a movie in which she was sharing female lead status with Naomi Watts. The lead female role in The Fighter was also shared and was, in my opinion, the strongest part of the movie. Amy Adams, who is terribly gorgeous(despite playing some serious white trash), goes head to head with another actress who is pulling her own weight quite heavily lately, Melissa Leo(who was introduced to me in the criminally underwatched HBO series "Treme"). To look at Melissa Leo in The Fighter is not to recognize her. In fact, it wasn't until midway through the flick that I even realized who she was, which is a testament to how talented she is(or how unobservant I am. Probably a bit of both). This also spoke to me in terms of Russell as a director. His notoriously loud-mouthed and angry ways seem to be working. Not a single character in this movie leaves any slack behind, performance-wise. The only flaw in the character-work for me, was found in the harem of trashy sisters that Ward has in his family. The flaw, however, is not in performance, but rather in the underwritten status of these characters. Perhaps a little more family backstory could have added a depth to the women as individuals as opposed to being treated(and being featured on screen ALWAYS) as a group. I can see, however, that such a change may have affected the pace of the movie, which was definitely one of it's strengths.
Scott: Dan, I totally agree with what you said about Melissa Leo and Amy Adams. In my opinion they may have been the strongest characters. Christian Bale's character being a drug addict, the father being fearful of the mother majority of the film, Micky's character himself who seemed to transform from indecisive and scared of his family to head strong and in control of himself by the end. As far as the sisters, I believe they played the "sheep" in the movie. Although, I'd rather fuck a sheep. They were fearful and unquestioning to the mother throughout the movie (with the exception of one fantastic scene which showed the spite the mother was capable of) and also just emphasized the mother's control over the family. The step sisters from Cinderella also come to mind in the way they were just an extension of the mother. Unlike Cinderella though, in "The Fighter", all these women did in fact care about the central character in their own weird twisted way, and as much as you may hate them one second you are very sympathetic the next.
Dan: I like what you said about the ugly sister squad being the mother's sheep. It is very interesting to watch the father grow from someone who gives in to his wife(who seems to be training Micky for her own personal gain), into a man who tries his hardest to do right by his son, even if it means angering his family in the process. Like I said before, to introduce a background to the daughters may have offset the pacing of the movie and hurt it. As it stands, the pace of the movie was just right. Heavy drama would give way to lighthearted dialogue and then flow into boxing seamlessly and without that "this is taking forever" feeling. Even the boxing sequences were handled with aplomb, and upon youtube researching, were quite accurate(if not slightly cinematized) down to the announcers. I've heard people complain that a movie called The Fighter" should have had more boxing. It's true that the boxing sequences were few and far between, but I havent seen boxing committed to film so skillfully since "Cinderella Man". Despite the lack of boxing, there was certainly an excess of fighting(ohhhhhhh now I get it). Moms yelling at daughters, brothers yelling at brothers, girlfriends yelling at sisters, even convicts yelling at Christian Bale(who yells back as if they were a room of lighting assistants BOOM!). Another thing that was very strong in this movie was its use of small amounts of humor to lighten the mood, as well as make some scenes more tragic. Bale, surprisingly, brings a wealth of humor to the proceedings, due to his flamboyant personality(the aformentioned convict/yelling scene comes to mind), but simultaneously his character is aware of his own charm and uses it to manipulate others, such as a terribly heartbreaking scene in which he sings to, and eventually with, his mother to distract her from the fact that she just picked him up from a crackhouse. Sound like Oscar bait? Well it would be if it weren't handled with such skill by everyone involved.
Scott: I like to consider myself a boxing fan. Not enthusiast, or die hard fan(although I love Die Hard) but a boxing fan nevertheless. Ward retired in 2003, I started watching boxing slightly before that. I remember his fights with Arturo Gatti, and remember seeing his fight with Shea Neary. During the film at one point I remember hearing someone say "Now they're Rocky fighting" and thinking, "No, they're Micky Ward fighting" because this brought me back to his few fights that I had seen. And like you Dan, I also went to YouTube that night and watched some of his fights and Russel (David O., not Crowe) did a remarkable job recreating the fights as well as the actors. From the commentating, to the trunks and gloves and almost hit for hit. Needless to say I spent the next few days watching old boxing matches. As far as the humor, it is played off so well. No jokes per say, just excellent chemistry. Lines that if I were to post would be lost on anyone who hasn't seen the movie, yet make anyone who has laugh. Most of these lines of course were delivered by Bale. The humor behind them is just another part of this complex character that Christian Bale became. People may be tired of hearing how great he was in this movie, but not only was this the role of a lifetime, he just was the role.
Dan: People will be talking about Christian Bale's role a lot. He did a fantastic job, but I do feel that the reason he's being lauded so highly is that it's been such a long time since we've seen him step out of the mold he has built for himself, but I'm not going to let that sway my opinion. When he does step out of the mold it is always a treat. There's a reason why Christian Bale has been in everything ever...he's fucking good. In closing I'd like to state that this movie was a success because it was exactly the sum of it's parts, all of which are great. Solid acting, a script that embraces convention skillfully, and a director that clearly knows what he's doing, have all been combined to create a solid day at the movies. Interesting sidenote: I've come to respect Russell as a director. The subject matter/genre of his films have been so widely varied, all the while keeping the quality high. Plus, if you can extract a great performance from Mark Wahlberg, that puts you into a league with Scorsese, which is naturally a good place to be.
Scott: Great acting. Great directing. Great story. Even a great soundtrack. I recommend this movie for anyone who's not offended by rated R movies and actually likes being entertained. Not Oscar bait, but definitely Oscar worthy.
Dan's Rating 8/10
Scott's Rating 9/10
