Cinderella Man
For who the hell knows why I was wide awake last night around 12:30AM and saw that a late show of Cinderella Man was starting up in a half-hour. 1AM. I went. Here's the sign:
Not sure why they had to spell it C'drella. Like... Was there not enough room there for the two letters I and N for the full Cinderella? Or actually just one of the two since the apostrophe takes up a letter's worth of space? It seems like the 'Man' part could fit too. But whatever. On the way to see this flick I stopped at the deli and picked me up a little late night picnic. Wasabi peas, a small can of pringles, a thing of watermelon chunks, three musketeers bar, and a water. All the food was gone within a half-hour and I got loud jolty hiccups for a few minutes. Luckily there was only like 6 of us mentals late night weirdos in the audience so that was fairly normal.
Previews started up and only one was coolio looking. It was a movie called 'Skeleton Key'. Scary! Lookee! (It stars Kate Hudhawn so it will probably suck but the preview is cool.) Anyway, I was amazed that I actually got late-night motivated for this flick because I'm really not a Richie Cunningham movie fan. Richie always boils things down to the disney. It seems to me his true talent isn't directing. It's his ability to acquire great stories. Then he just maps it out nice and clean. Cinderella Man is a great story. The flick shoulda been fantastic. But something about it was missing. What was it? Good acting? Check. Entertaining? Check. Good look and design? Check. Good pacing? Check. Beating heart? Check. So what the dilly? What was wrong?-- I simply didn't see a real soul behind the scenes. A soul passionate with a story to tell. When I looked behind the curtain for the soul, all I saw was Brian Grazer staring in the mirror gelling up his hair. Then going, 'AYYYY!!' with two thumbs up.
Anyway, anybody who wants to be a boxer has to have some good strong quirks I think. Juicy stuff. The boxer guy in this flick (Rustle Crow) here was simply a punchy saint who just wanted to hit people in the head as best he could so he could put food on the table. Yawn. Gimme some booze! Some problem besides the obvious! Gimme something here! Also everyone around Crowe were Happy Days goody goody in their own way too. Good or bad there were no good quirks and meat on the bones. People were good. People were bad. Black and white. No grey matter. And grey matter is the stuff that makes you think. And what I think is there was more to the story here...(not sure what but I could feel it) and that grey stuff (whatever it was) could have made this movie more than just a great story where you didn't have to think.
(Outside in the parking lot, Brian Grazer wears a leather jacket and revvs a motorcycle for some chick but he accidentally kicks it into gear and it takes off all out of control and he tries to steer with his feet but he keeps revving it right out into the street all swervy. We hear cars slam on the brakes and beeping and yelling. And then the motorcycle gets all wobbily and Brian goes over hard. After a second or two, he gets to his feet holding his hand like a paw. He looks at everyone looking at him and laughing and bursts into tears and runs away yelling, 'Screw you guys!')
Three Good Things About this Movie
- I liked watching it anyway.
- The Giamatti was great and the guy who played Max Baer was fun too.
- I didn't know anything about this story or this guy so going in cold again
paid off.
Three Bad Things About this Movie
- Reenee Zelwiggers puffy-lipped-innocent-teary-eyed-i'm-your-backbone, honey
shtick didn't work for me.
- The boxing wasn't bloody and meaty and smashy enough. Enough with the
flashbulbs!
- It was like watching Seabiscuit again. Except the horse was some dickheaded
Australian penisboy... instead of a horse.
All in all, I guess this movie is worth seeing because it really is an awesome story. But I wish they showed the big picture. It's like this. Imagine your friend wants to set you up on a blind date. You ask what the person is like and they said, 'He/she is a really nice person. Good hearted. Good looking' And you're like, 'Ok what's wrong with them?' And they're like, 'Nothing! Honestly they're just really good. Passionate about their work and stuff.' And you're like, 'Something has got to be wrong with them? Just tell me what it is!...' And the person was like, 'Seriously! Nothing! Why are you asking? Can't you just believe that someone is just a good person? With no flaws!?'
I find that hard to believe... plus, what shapes personalities more than flaws?
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(Then Brian Grazer is in Arnold's and he hits the jukebox (with his good hand) to turn it on but nothing happens and people laugh at him and he gets upset and runs into the Girls bathroom by accident and you hear girls scream and Grazer comes out to more laughter and gets panicky humiliated and runs into the Boys room and trips over the garbage can and knocks out a front tooth on the urinal.... then Scoop (who runs the Jefferson High School newspaper) runs in and yells 'Scoop! and snaps a picture of a freshly gap-toothed teary-eyed Grazer bleeding all over his leather.)