Against the Ropes

by Joe Barber on Feb.20, 2004, under Joe Barber's Movie Reviews

Joe’s Review
The best reason I can give you to see this movie is summed up in two words: Meg Ryan. After years of playing pixie-like, spunky girls in her movies, she’s finally found some grit and gravity to embody a real woman struggling to be taken seriously in a “man’s world.” This film, very loosely based on the biography of the first successful female boxing manager, has given Ryan a coming out showcase of sorts for her adult on-screen persona. It is a welcome arrival that helps to lift the film just above mediocrity.
Jackie Kallen, who Ryan plays, grew up the daughter of a boxing manager who showed little regard for his daughter’s feelings or intelligence. Her love for boxing led her to take a job working for a second tier promoter in the Midwest. When Jackie challenges the knowledge of a successful and petty promoter at a victory party, the promoter sells Jackie the contract of a defeated boxer, challenging her to see what she can do with him. She discovers the boxer is a waste of space, but finds a promising talent in the neighborhood tough who beats the boxer down in a confrontation over drugs. Kallen recruits a veteran trainer who’s quit the game, weary with its corruption, and convinces him to work with her and the raw fighter. As the improbable trio work their way from victory to victory, the spotlight grows brighter on Kallen, affecting her relationships with those who’ve supported her and her team. Can they make it to the big money before everything falls apart?
Anyone who’s read Kallen’s book, from which the title of the movie is taken, will recognize that much of what’s on screen has been created by the film’s screenwriters to add dramatic tension. That’s too bad, because Kallen’s story has some true drama to it. Despite this, director and co-star Charles S. Dutton helps the film to connect with audiences by concentrating on the humanity of the characters and the situations. The boxing sequences look and feel realistic and Omar Epps, as Luther, the tough-turned-boxer, delivers a strong and subtle performance that makes even the larger stretches of storytelling engrossing. In the end, Ryan’s smarts and passion hold the movie together and give it a touch of class.
Against the Ropes is no Rocky but it really holds it’s own in an entertaining way.