The Fighter (2010)
I watched this tonight with my son.
This is the story of the real life boxer, Mickey Ward, and his relationship with his dysfunctional family as he tries to make something of his life.
It has a stellar cast with Christian Bale as the drug addict brother, Mark Wahlberg as Mickey and the beautiful Amy Adams as Mickey’s girlfriend.
The story is really about how Mickey’s family is holding him back, through their blind focus on his brother who was a semi successful boxer in the past. Charlene (played by Adams) is his girlfriend and helps to instil confidence in Mickey so he can break away from his family until they sort out their problems.
Ultimately, his brother gets clean and his family and girlfriend all help Mickey in his road to the WBU Welterweight title.
I did notice this is a “Weinstein film” so I explained a bit of that history to my son who’s 15.
I thought the performances in this film were excellent with Bale excellent as the waster of a brother. Bale won an Oscar as did Melissa Leo who did a great job of playing the narcissistic mother.