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Against the RopesRating:
Release Date: 13 July, 2004 Retail Price: $12.98 OUR Price: $11.99 You SAVE: $0.99! Cast: |
Against the Ropes Reviews
Love her wardrobe but not the film.
Against the Ropes directed by actor Charles S. Dutton looks like a fun and edgy film but unfortantely falls flat 20 minutes into the movie. I adore Meg Ryan, she is funny, sarcastic, and fearless as real-life boxing promoter Jackie Kallan but this boring film couldn't save Ryan's potential as an actress. Looks like everyone agrees with me that Against the Ropes is nothing to rave about, this film tries to be like Rocky but Rocky it ain't. Rent Raging Bull instead.
An entertaining view of Meg Ryan's new image
Apparently since her failed romance with Russell Crowe during filming of the 2000 film "Proof of Life", Meg Ryan has cultivated a bad girl image. She tried with limited success to show her bad girl side in a lot of simlulated sex scenes in the 2003 flop "In The Cut". I think she has more success in the transition here playing real life boxing manager Jackie Kallen.
While the film parallels some of Kallen's activiites, "Against The Ropes" is clearly a Hollyoodized view of the boxing game and its regime. Ryan, as Kallen, finds a nobody in a local gym and turns him into a champion, all the time working against the good old boys network to get venues for her burgeoning champ -- who leaves her at the end to work for her enemy. Fortunately everything works out in the end and everyone is happy. The script at the end notes Kallen's real life achievements.
I think Ryan is much closer to achieving the second dimension of her image here than in that other movie. She dresses great all the time with trashy outfits that show off her curves. She baits men with her figure and uses it to get what she wants -- just like women do in real life. She isn't nearly as tough as Kallen but her character exhibits a sticktoittiveness that demonstrates the resolve of the real life manager.
My wife has recently taken boxing training, not to become a puncher but to keep in good shape. She works out twice a week in a gritty urban gym and hangs out with trainers and boxing managers that think their new kid is a rising star. She enjoyed this flick and saw some of life's realities in the workup to the boxing scenes.
I'd recommend this DVD to anyone that wants to see an entertaining sports management movie or anyone that wants to see Meg Ryan's development as an R-rated actress. You won't see anything as graphic as "Raging Bull" or as poetic as "Requiem for a Heavyweight" herein. But you will see a solidly entertaining movie with a feel good ending.
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