The Fighter

The Fighter, the critically acclaimed movie starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale and Amy Adams, is certainly worthy of its critical accolades. But if I were creating a list of "well made movies that I would never want to watch again", this would be right up there! According to imdb, The Fighter is, "a drama about boxer 'Irish' Micky Ward's unlikely road to the world light welterweight title. His Rocky-like rise was shepherded by half-brother Dicky, a boxer-turned-trainer who rebounded in life after nearly being KO'd by drugs and crime."

But you know what else this movie is? Hard to watch, that's what. It's not the graphic boxing that unsettled me. I think it was more the family dysfunction, alcoholism and drug addiction that left me bummed out. Was the acting excellent? Mostly yes. Mark Wahlberg has his limits if you ask me, but I thought Christian Bale (as brother Dicky) and Melissa Leo (as matriarch Alice Ward) were exceptional.

There were occasional bursts of laughter, mostly related to this large, Irish Catholic, working class, Boston family in the 80's. But despite these laughs and the satisfaction in watching Micky Ward overcome considerable challenges to achieve his dream, the movie simply wasn't enjoyable. The most enjoyable part of the entire movie was the interview with the real-life brothers shown during the credits!

I think...if you're someone who doesn't need to "enjoy" a movie and instead can celebrate a well-made film then this movie is for you! But if you're like me and find entertaining usually synomynous with enjoyable, then this one might leave you disappointed.