Against the Ropes

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 movie couldn't decide what it was. It's not a bioPic. As Kallen, herself, said, "The character is named Jackie Kallen and she sounds like me but they changed so much of the story that it wasn't me... it's just a little confusing to be the actual subject of a movie and yet have it not follow your life enough that you can't recognize yourself." It's not a Rocky story, rising from nothing to champ, because it can't decide who is Rocky - is it Jackie or Luther? It's not Meg Ryan's usual RomCom, although it flirts with the idea in some scenes. And, finally the boxing has no authenticity (the last fight is a joke). The problem with trying to span so many genres it ends up failing in them all. What a waste. I give this film a 4 (poor) out of 10. {BiographyX, RomanceX, Boxing DramaXXX}

The movie focuses to Jackie Kallen(Meg Ryan), a Jewish girl from Detroit, a secretary plenty of wide dreams. After a stake with a famous commissioner(Tony Shalhoub)she becomes a boxing promoter of a young boxer(Omar Epps).Then she hires a retired coach(Charles S. Dutton) for training the inexperienced boxer.

Although is a fictional story is based on true events referred by United States's most noted boxing manager. In addition, are narrated her relationship with the tough boxer, her fight to survive into boxing world, a sport strongly dominated by male sex. It's developed with humor, love and a little bit of drama. The casting is frankly excellent, a sympathetic though selfish Meg Ryan, a two-fisted but sensible Omar Epps, today well known as the doctor in ¨House¨, such as Tony Shaloub by ¨Monk¨series; furthermore Jose Cortese and Tim Daly(son of James Daly and brother of Tyne Daly) as a sports reporter. The motion picture packs an enjoyable cinematography by Jack N. Greene( Clint Eastwood's usual cameraman) and catching soundtrack by Michael Kamen(Weapon Lethal, Die hard). The movie is professionally directed by usually actor Charles S Dutton in his first movie, he has followed directing television movies. Rating : Acceptable and entertaining . The film will like to Meg Ryan fans and boxing buffs but displays nice combats.

Said to be based on a true story, 'Against the Ropes' is not as effective as other movies of this genre. The story does not grip and even as a character study it fails. The screenplay is quite poor (and predictable), the characters are half-baked, the dialogues are dull and it has nothing new to offer. Cheryl Edwards expects to understand what's going on but we are always questioning what the motivation of the characters were.

Meg Ryan looks very hot and she does the best she could with an ill-written character. Omar Epps is okay (he two suffers from a badly written role). The relationship between the two characters is one of the most important elements of the plot (or should have been). Yet, this is hardly developed. One moment we see Epps character hugging Ryan and the next we see him call her a bitch and wanting to quit. It would have been a far better movie had this point been improved.

The plot is obviously very predictable and we know how it will end. There are so many plot holes and there is just too much missing from this film. Maybe there was pressure to make this film within the time limit and the director decided to leave out some parts, probably substantial parts. On a positive note, the last boxing scene was well shot.

'Against the Ropes' felt very incomplete and it's a waste for the cast and crew who are otherwise known for their good work. For some reason I tried to enjoy the film...but did not succeed. It isn't the worst movie around and I think it's okay for a one-time watch.

This is a not-very-well-written film that nonetheless has redeeming features. The story arc is clichéd, (underdog succeeds against all odds, hubris sets in, everything lost, then redemption), and Meg Ryan, who I think is a better actress than some, is badly miscast here. She just can't come across as tough enough for this role. The slutty clothes her character wore, although looking very nice, didn't fit. (Even though I'm sure she was channeling Kallen) Omar Epps put in a very nice performance, and I have to compliment Kerry Washington and Charles S. Dutton for their work, although there was not enough of Washington. Also Tony Shalhoub who I haven't much cared for, shows his chops by going against type playing an imposing and menacing character. I see that Dutton directed and did well, inasmuch as I never noticed the direction. This film has deep faults, but somehow works, at least to a point. I thought it was OK.