'Cinderella Man' sure to be an Oscar contender

By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service

CINDERELLA MAN (PG-13) Four Stars (Excellent) Ron Howard's Cinderella Man has a lot in common with the guy it portrays. Both the film and the boxer are decent and determined. Each offers little flash or foolishness, but lots of integrity and heart. And, despite the negative odds of a cynical world, they both emerge as champions. Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger co-star. Universal, 144 minutes.

And, despite the negative odds of a cynical world, they both emerge as champions. Braddock upset the longest odds in boxing's heavyweight history to beat Max Baer in 1935. And Howard's film is likely to be a factor in the ring the next time they hand out Oscars.

"Cinderella Man" details the true story of one of the working-class heroes of the Depression. James J. Braddock was a capable, if somewhat limited, boxer who won several bouts in the 1920s, only to fall on hard times. He broke his hand several times, he lost a few key fights, and he was soon back on the street.

In the film, Braddock moves his wife and four kids into a cheap basement apartment, and tries to get work at the New Jersey docks. Just when boxing seems to have passed Braddock by, his manager, Joe Gould, (Paul Giamatti) secures him a last-minute fight against a prime heavyweight contender. And that's when Braddock's life finally turns upward, leading to his astonishing upset of Baer.

As Braddock, Russell Crowe performs like a champ, ably embracing elements that don't always make for riveting drama, including that aforementioned integrity. (We admire nice guys in real life, but we like flawed heroes on the screen.)

In lesser hands, Braddock could seem a bit dull or unimaginative, but Crowe revels in subtle character detail, making Braddock real. Crowe also projects the complex gravitas of a person of depth as well as decency.

Thanks to the actor's inherent believability, when Braddock returns welfare money as if it had been a loan, we believe it.

Crowe has never been better than in the wrenching moment in "Cinderella Man" when the proud but desperate Braddock is forced to hold his hat out and beg for cash from wealthy boxing promoters because the boxing commission has withdrawn his license.Because of Braddock's blue-collar roots and the news that he had received welfare, he became the people's champion, a Seabiscuit on two legs who captured the public's imagination at a time when boxing was the king of American sports and the heavyweight champion was the king of the sport.

Director Howard expertly captures the look and tenor of Depression-era America and cinematographer Salvatore Totino evocatively shoots in a bleak color spectrum that's as close to black and white as color ever gets.

Alongside Crowe's formidable performance is superb work from Giamatti, as the colorful and equally determined manager; Renee Zellweger as Braddock's ever-loyal wife, Mae, and Craig Bierko as the amiable but cocky Max Baer, who seems ready to spring into a movie all his own.

The escapist summer is seldom the time of high-quality drama, but that's what "Cinderella Man" offers — a rare, out-of-season gift from Hollywood.

Rated PG-13, intense boxing violence, profanity.