ALISON ST. JOHN: And you're back on Film Club of the Air on KPBS, with Beth Accomando, Scott Marks, and Anders Wright. And the next movie we're gonna be talking about is "The Fighter." It stars Mark Walhberg and Christian Bale as brothers who box. Bale's character is now a crack addict. Walhberg plays Mickey Ward. The film is based on the real life story of two brothers and it was filmed in lower Massachusetts where the film is set. This scene from the movie gives you a sense of the quarreling nature of the family. Mickey's trying to keep his family and his girlfriend from fighting over who should manage and train him for an up coming fight. Here it is. [CLIP] ALISON ST. JOHN: Sounds like it's less about boxing and more about family feuding,ab customers what did you think about the fighter? ANDERS WRIGHT: Mean, I didn't like it at all, really. I mean people seem to be very divided on this movie. People are either like, this is it the greatest thing of all. Or they're like me, this is over acting, terribly written, poorly are put together, uninteresting. Yeah, not for me. ALISON ST. JOHN: Okay. Scott, what about you. SCOTT MARKS: Come on. This is -- this is my new Precious, a film that when I -- it was oaf, it was just infuriated. And I watched it again, this thing is so bad it's hilarious. ALISON ST. JOHN: But watched it again? MARKS: Oh, it's so bad! I mean, I'm laughing my head off. I think Christian Bale is terrible. WRIGHT: He's just over acting and chewing -- you expect him to, like, pull a locker room door off and start eating it. MARKS: It's Hunts Hall and Billy Hallop in Raging Bowery Boys, these are the stupidest -- why would anybody want to spend time with these imbeciles -- to call them trash is just a profound insulate to trash. These people are horrifying. ALISON ST. JOHN: Why do you stand on this, Beth? BETH ACCOMANDO: I mean, I didn't hate it. I didn't think it was great. I thought the acting was entertaining. MARKS: Sure was! ACCOMANDO: I thought the family dynamics were amusing. I didn't think the fighting was good at all. That was very mundane. ALISON ST. JOHN: But if it's a movie about family feuding, did it succeed on that front? ACCOMANDO: I think it succeeded looking at the family dynamics. I don't think that the fight aspect of it worked that well, but I mean, I think it was an interesting story in the sense that you had this family managing this fighter as opposed to somebody who was really in the fight world. And there were some interesting conflicts that come up, you know, when you're -- you need to pay mortgage or rent or get money and you're forcing your son to go fight just to, you know, get some cash coming into the house -- WRIGHT: It's an interesting story, but a poorly put together film. ALISON ST. JOHN: What did you think about Christian bail in this? WRIGHT: Just thought he was chewing scenery. There's this very fine line between good acting and over okaying. And I think he was never on the side of good okaying. It's also -- it's a movie about accents. All of the professional actors have the pa'k yuh ca' [NEW ENGLAND TYPE ACCENT] accents that are actually all over the place. And Mark Wahlberg who is from that world has the least accent of all. The funniest bit for me, his mother has these 5 or 67. ACCOMANDO: Eight. WRIGHT: Ace [CHECK AUDIO]. ACCOMANDO: I enjoyed them. WRIGHT: They were very funny and I think they're all nonprofessional actors. MARKS: Oh, really? WRIGHT: But they all show up, they all basically they show up in different scenes and they're liking what's goin' on? Who's this? I can't believe it, what's happening? Somebody's like you gotta go. Like [CHECK AUDIO]. ALISON ST. JOHN: Well, apparently they actually -- really do exist, these are real sisters right? WRIGHT: Sure, absolutely. MARKS: But that doesn't make them interesting to look at for two hours. I mean, they put these people up there, and it's like, you knowing you are so pathetically deformed and hideous to look at, we're gonna give you a cleanup. There's one great scene in this move. He want talks the girl to see a subtitled film because he knows his friends are so stupid and so illiterate, they would never go see a subtitled film. Explain this to me. Amy Adams has been working in this bar for how long? ACOMANDO: Two years. She's one of the sisters. WRIGHT: The whole family comes into the bar regularly, and Mark Wahlberg never notices here, never notices her, and what's gonna get her off? Some guy comes up and hits on her, Mark Wahlberg walks over, takes the guy's head, and bashed it into a bar. Boy, there's a guy I want to hang out with. WRIGHT: Like I said before, I think it is a good story, but I don't think it's well executed. MARKS: I would much rather see the HBO documentary. ALISON ST. JOHN: [CHECK AUDIO]. WRIGHT: There's a lot of boxing sequences later on. ACCOMANDO: He gets pummelled. WRIGHT: Yeah, he does. But in many ways, you might say that Black Swan is more violate of it's more intensely violate in a lot of ways. ALISON ST. JOHN: Well, now, the director, David rus, he's famous for being combative. Is this perfect material for him? WRIGHT: I guess so. And I telly like some of his work. And I was looking forward to the film because I always 789 to see what he's doing. But I didn't really see much of what I think of his style. MARKS: I look at this, lilly Tom Lynn was right. The way he abused that poor woman. Go on YouTube, and you'll see a break [CHECK AUDIO]. ALISON ST. JOHN: What kind of a director is David Russell? MARKS: I think three kings is a master piece. Of I think this is good any film made since George bush got us into the war. And there are parts in this film, honest to God, I felt embarrassed for him. I think this is it a really badly made, sophomoric movie. [CHECK AUDIO] with the mark shot accents in this entire film, these are not real charactering and even though it's based on truth, these are cartoon characters ump all of that said, though, Christian wail and Melissa Leo are getting a lot of notice from a lot of people. Yeah. WRIGHT: And they were both nominated in our group yesterday. There were a lot of people who really think a lot of this film and identity a lot of these performances. ACCOMANDO: To be fair to Christian Bale, there is a clip at the end of the film of the real brothers, and he's in the that far off the mark. MARKS: But I don't think -- who played Nixon? Anthony hop -- nobody ever looks like Richard Nixon. But these are all good films of Nixon's a terrific performance, and it's a terrific film. And he looks nothing like him. ACCOMANDO: No, but would you fault him for looking like him? Would you fault him for sounding like him. MARKS: I would fault him for doing an impersonation. And I think that's what they're cooing in this film. WRIGHT: The question is, [CHECK AUDIO]. ST. JOHN: Okay. So even the acting of the family feud said did not quite come off. I just like they've taken these characters completely over the top. Now issue I've been told that the real life people are, but if I don't believe the performances, I don't believe the movie. ALISON ST. JOHN: Okay, well, there are some opinions on you of the fighter. Which opens in area theatres this Friday.
You can tell it's Oscar season by the amount of scenery being chewed in the holiday releases. The latest is "The Fighter" (opening December 17 throughout San Diego), about real life fighter Micky Ward. You can read my review or listen to our discussion on the KPBS Film Club of the Air.
"The Fighter" may be based on a real life story of two boxing brothers but it's as believable as "Rocky." That's not entirely a criticism. But it's meant as a way to help set your expectations. "Rocky" was set in Philly and drew on the neighborhood for local color. Similarly, "The Fighter" shot in Lowell, Massachusetts where its story takes place and draws on the people and location to enliven its predictable boxing tale.
Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) was a welterweight boxer from Lowell who is probably best remembered by fight fans for a punch to Shea Neary's kidneys and for a trio of bouts with Arturo Gatti. Ward's older brother Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale) was also fighter. He was dubbed "The Pride of Lowell" for going the distance with Sugar Ray Leonard and knocking him down (see part of the fight here). We pick up with the two brothers as Eklund is trying to train his brother for a fight. But Eklund is also a crack addict and not very dependable. Ward is also being managed by his mom (Melissa Leo) who places the family finances above Ward's well being when determining which fights to take.
"The Fighter" works best as an entertaining tale of chaotic family dynamics. The fight footage is mostly bland and mundane, and we get little insight into the boxing world. But the relationship between Ward and Eklund is fun to watch especially with Wahlberg and Bale. Bale's performance is over the top at times. But a clip of the real Eklund at the end of the film suggests that it might not be that over the top. It's a nervous, squirrelly performance that's both funny in its exaggeration and touching in its quiet moments. Wahlberg's job is more to play straight man to Bale so he downplays most of the time.
Also in the over the top range is Leo as the Mom. She and her Greek chorus of daughters are hilarious. They may offer more caricature than realism but then this film is not a gritty, real life drama – it's a Hollywood fable of success. But it's interesting to note that the character of Mickey O'Keefe, a local cop who worked in Ward's corner, is played by the real guy. So not everyone in the film is overplaying their role.
Director David O. Russell dazzled viewers with his 1999 film, "Three Kings," but has never managed to surpass or even come close to that film's success. In "The Fighter," he invests the family scenes with energy and he keeps the story moving at a brisk pace. He doesn't reveal any flair for capturing fights in the ring but proves more adept showing us family brawls.
"The Fighter" (rated R for language throughout, drug content, some violence and sexuality) is a film that Boston-born Wahlberg has been fighting to make for a number of years. The result of his five-year battle is not a great film by any means but it is an entertaining one.
Here's a video of the real brothers talking about the film.
Companion viewing: "High on Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell" (the HBO doc featuring Dicky Eklund), "The Wrestler," "The Champion," "Rocky," "Rocky Balboa"
