Cinderella Man Reviews

It ain't no Rocky, but it ain't half bad.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10

The final justification that Russell Crowe is without a doubt one of the best actors to come along in years.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4

A very solid cast, one of the most reliable directors in Hollywood, and one of the most malleable subjects in film make Cinderella Man one of the best films of 2005 thus far.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10

Cinderella Man plays like a movie actively hunting for awards. But it's also a pretty darn good story.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5

Handsome, manipulative, simplistic. It packs an uplift that bludgeons you into submission.

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Howard's movie skillfully delivers that primal, heart-pounding satisfaction that is the promise of all boxing tales.

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As for the fights themselves, Howard brings nothing new to the canvas. Like the movie as a whole, they work fine enough, even while encased in leaden certitude.

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Cinderella Man is a contender, but it's not exactly a knockout.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

A cross between Seabiscuit (because of the Depression) and Rocky (because of the sport), yet a fine enough film to stand on its own, even if the production falls short of both in terms of its emotional punch.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4

And as far as Cinderella's pumpkins go, though the movie ends with Braddock's boxing triumph in Hollywood's notorious freeze-frame approach to history, both Braddock and Baer went on to be decked by Joe Louis.

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As entertaining and uplifting a film as we'll get all year.

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At moments it almost had me, but for the most part I just felt cold and watched with all the interest of a disgruntled spectator.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

A fine alternative to the louder and more brainless summer movies competing with it -- an excellent drama that relies on heart and action instead of schmaltz and melodrama.

| Original Score: 4/4

Howard may have replicated the family scenes as accurately as if he'd found film from a camera hidden in the walls of the original Braddock apartment, and yet the movie can't shake the sense that the scenes away from the boxing ring are somehow false

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The film wallows in the poverty and degradation of Crowe and his family, which is a real downer for a supposed feel-good movie . . .

The fight scenes have a stinging authenticity and, although at 144 minutes it outstays its welcome, this is Howard's best film since Apollo 13

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Stirring and inspirational in the best and worst senses of these terms, this fact-based melodrama is stamped by the middlebrow sensibility of both director Ron Howard and writer Akiva Goldsman.

Full Review | Original Score: B+

I only wish Howard could have shaped this and the other performances a little, toning them down or leaving a bit of a rough edge.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

I have never rooted for a sporting event in my life like I rooted for Braddock. I was on the edge of my couch, balled fists on my knees, praying he would prevail...superbly edited, beautifully shot, sensitively acted, and with fantastic grit and texture

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5

The feel good bomb of the year.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10