Against the Ropes

"Against the Ropes" is not the bad movie some of the contributors to this forum seem to imply. While it doesn't break any ground in a sport that is seen here in a more glamorized way, the film presents us a woman determined to succeed at being a boxing promoter. In real life, Jackie Kallen has proved herself to be capable of handling fighters. Charles S. Dutton, an actor himself, makes the best of the material Cheryl Edwards wrote, based on the real Jackie.

Jackie Kallen is a woman who knows a lot about boxing. When she spots the amazing Luther Shaw, she is determined to take him to the top. She realizes she has a thankless job, as she enters an area in sports totally dominated by men. Jackie is not a quitter, as she proves it to the boxing world and to herself. While boxing drama has been dealt with in much better movies, we won't dwelt on it.

Jackie Kallen, is played by Meg Ryan. She is at times annoying in her determination to go against the controlling mafia-like people in the business. Omar Epps, as the boxer, appears to do a fair job as a fighter that wants to go to the top of the heap. Tony Shalhoub plays LaRocca, the man who would like to defeat Jackie and show her where she belongs, but she gets the last laugh! Charles S. Dutton, as Felix, the trainer, doesn't have much to do. Timothy Daly, is Gavin, the man responsible for attracting attention to Luther because of his friendship with Jackie.

Watch this movie with open eyes.

Though ostensibly based on a true story, 'Against the Ropes' is pure movie hokum from start to finish.

Jackie Kallen made a name for herself as one of the few successful female managers in the history of professional boxing. In the movie's prologue, we meet Jackie as a young girl so obsessed with the sport that she spends her off hours at the gym helping her dad train her uncle, a fighter who died very early in his career. Years later, Jackie, on a dare, agrees to manage her own player - if only she can find a talent who will be willing to put his life and his career in the hands of an untried but determined woman. She alights on Luther Shaw, a drug-dealer-with-a-heart-of-gold whom she picks up in the nearby projects. Luther is, for the most part, a fictional character, a composite, we're told, of several of the fighters Kallen led to victory in the ring.

Regardless of how much of this is fiction or nonfiction, 'Against the Ropes' fails to generate any heat either as a character study or as a human drama. We're supposed to find all this interesting simply because Kallen is an attractive woman trying to prove herself in a man's world. Yet, the story is hackneyed, the dialogue corny, the characters and their conflicts trite and underdeveloped. The Cheryl Edwards screenplay is so sketchy and poorly articulated that we often don't understand why characters are behaving the way they are, particularly when it comes to the rough-and-tumble relationship between Jackie and Luther. One moment they are getting along swimmingly, and the next Jackie is strutting around blowing her own horn while Luther sits pouting in the corner. Whole episodes, which could have gone a long way towards explaining the characters' motivations, seem to have been dropped from the finished product at the last minute.

Kallen is obviously a change-of-pace role for Meg Ryan who generally plays the innocent ingénue lead in romantic comedies. Yet, despite the fact that she is a trifle more serious here and even gets to work with an accent (the mark of any 'serious' performer looking to buck up her credentials), the movie itself is so lacking in tension and grit and so determinedly upbeat and optimistic that it really doesn't give the actress a whole lot of opportunity to truly stretch those acting muscles. In fact, in the final scene, the film turns into little more than a vanity production for the waning star. Omar Epps fares a bit better, turning in a performance of strength and dignity, though the script lets him down by failing to develop his character to any appreciable extent.

The one fight scene is only moderately well executed and comes way too late in the film for anyone interested in the sport to still be hanging around ringside at that point. In fact, no one comes even close to scoring a knockout blow in 'Against the Ropes' - not Ryan, not Epps and certainly not the audience. 'Against the Ropes' is a sucker punch all the way.

I had the pleasure of going to the premiere for Against the Ropes in LA on February 11, 2004. I thought the movie was excellant. I am Charles Dutton's neice, and a very big fan of Omar Epps. The movie was very well written, and directed, and the cast did a fantastic job. Meg Ryan definately played her part, and made it be known that there is no such thing as "a man's sport". I give the movie, it's writers, directors, and it's cast 2 thumbs up. This will definately be a movie that I will purchase on DVD when it comes out.

This one is better than you might expect. I remember when the girlfriend chose it. 'It probably sucks but it's Meg Ryan', she said. Well it is Meg Ryan and it definitely doesn't suck. In fact it's very very good.

Jackie Kallen has lived around the boxing ring all her life. The world of boxing is as chauvinistic as they come. Jackie is tired of being treated like dirt and sticks up for herself and suddenly finds herself a promoter. And through determination she makes it work.

We started by watching the special features and that might be a good idea for anyone so you get a good idea of what the story's about. It's supposedly not a biopic but is 'inspired' by Jackie Kallen's life, and hopefully more so than It Could Happen To You.

And the stacked deck is used throughout the movie to great effect. And Ryan carries her lines and her part excellently. She is still Meg Ryan - that's her curse, she's that good and loved - but she's also Jackie Kallen, and very convincing at it.

Omar Epps should have got his name above the title too as he's also very good. And watch for Tony Shalhoub in a distinctly unsavoury role.

Directed by Charles Dutton who also has a part in the movie, it works well and reaches a satisfactory climax, and you really feel it's been worth the ride - for Jackie, for Meg and the other stars and people on the project, and for you.

Meg Ryan pulls a great performance as the underdog of this movie. Playing a real person is never easy and being a woman in boxing holds as much discrimination on its own without adding that she works it with sex appeal. You can't hate a story when it comes from true events and both Shaloub and Ryan pull off their characters with finesse. Don't hate her because she's not in her much loved romantic comedy persona; love that she pulled off the Midwestern girl honoring her father's memory and her uncles love with dedicating her life to boxing. Comparing Omar Epps to Tom Hanks is so inappropriate in this film. There is never meant to be a love connection between Epps and Ryan. It's more of a mothering relationship; the son she never had and the mothering he never received. You are either going to love or hate this movie. Be assured you'll watch it till' the end and will have an opinion one way or the other.