Cinderella Man 2005

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: The first film in terms of Oscar hopefuls this year that can truly be considered a contender. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Pardon its dust, and you'll be rewarded with a moving story of a time gone by, and of an unexpected hero. Read more

Robert K. Elder, Chicago Tribune: Howard's relentless and flat-footed attack on our sympathies slips into monotony. The first half drags on for longer than it should, as we're told over and over that people were poor, very poor. Depressed even. Because it was the Depression. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Easily the best American film so far this year. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: This is a rousing, thrilling and inspirational biopic from a director and a star who have now collaborated on two Academy Award level films. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: It's hard to guess how much of the beautiful science Academy members can take, but let's worry about that next February. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: A superficially rousing portrait of Depression-era legend James J. Braddock. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: Crowe gives another solid performance, and Paul Giamatti (Sideways, American Splendor) adds to his shining reputation as a top character actor by playing Braddock's lippy manager, Joe Gould. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: If you're the sort of occasional moviegoer who feels they don't make 'em like they used to -- well, you're right. Except that Howard and Russell Crowe have just proved you wrong. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Howard hurts our ability to enjoy this good story by pushing its plot points too insistently. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: The storytelling is fluid and gripping. Read more

Paul Clinton (CNN.com), CNN.com: We needed heroes in the 1930s, and we need them today, and Cinderella Man is the unashamed story of a hero. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Crowe's performance as this Seabiscuit of the sweet science will no doubt make the middleweight Cinderella Man a contender -- an Oscar contender. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: How exceptional a film actor is Russell Crowe? So exceptional that in Cinderella Man, he makes a good boxing movie feel at times like a great, big picture. Read more

Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com: The joy is in the playing, and Ron Howard pulls out all the stops like the organist at the old Madison Square Garden. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: If you used to love the movies, Cinderella Man will remind you of the movies you loved. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: No opportunity for sentimental editorializing goes unseized. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: This is an utterly predictable, thoroughly manipulative and thunderously obvious movie. I wouldn't change a frame of it. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: There probably isn't a filmmaker anywhere, other than the redoubtable Steven Spielberg himself, who's as adroit as Howard at grabbing the mass viscera and squeezing it at just the right intervals. Read more

David Ansen, Newsweek: Howard's movie skillfully delivers that primal, heart-pounding satisfaction that is the promise of all boxing tales. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Like its hero, it stubbornly gets the job done. Read more

Jami Bernard, New York Daily News: Braddock only wants another shot at boxing to buy milk for the kids. Cue the heavenly choir. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Ron Howard's film about the heavyweight boxer James J. Braddock is a shamefully ingratiating old-fashioned weepie. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: Just an O.K. vintage fight movie. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: The thing that ultimately makes it a classic in the pantheon of American movies is the way it reveals something about the idealism, strength, grace and grit of the American Dream. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: With Russell Crowe in literal fighting trim and a splendid supporting cast, this is a boxing pic built on classic lines, and one of the best movies of the summer. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: It lands a few solid punches, but never achieves anything close to a knock-out. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Most serious movies live in a world of cynicism and irony, and most good-hearted movie characters live in bad movies. Here is a movie where a good man prevails in a world where every day is an invitation to despair. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Cinderella Man is a movie about the indomitability of the American spirit, and those are always far less interesting than movies about actual people. Read more

David Edelstein, Slate: It's schmaltzy -- but it's schmaltz veined with foie gras. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: It's a thrilling story, all the more amazing for being true. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Howard has got but a single message to deliver here -- boxer Braddock as the populist American hero of the Depression era - and he beats us over the head with his uplifting haymaker until we're crumbled on the canvas and crying for mercy. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Ron Howard's Depression-era ode to second chances and noble contests, filmed here last summer, is not just another boxing movie or just another picture. It's a completely absorbing and artfully made fairy tale that just so happens to be true. Read more

Mark Salisbury, Time Out: The fight scenes have a stinging authenticity and, although at 144 minutes it outstays its welcome, this is Howard's best film since Apollo 13 Read more

Jay Ruttenberg, Time Out: As for the fights themselves, Howard brings nothing new to the canvas. Like the movie as a whole, they work fine enough, even while encased in leaden certitude. Read more

Time Out: Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: I've never seen a boxing movie that has so convinced me I was seeing a pro bout both real and sustained. Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: Cinderella Man takes the almost impossibly perfect elements of the saga of underdog boxer James J. Braddock and fills it with emotional gravitas, wrenching danger and a panoramic sense of American life during the Great Depression. Read more

Ed Halter, Village Voice: Despite the tale's dusty pedigree, Ron Howard spins a ticket-worthy two-plus hours of movie-movie entertainment. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: We're in an almost irony-free zone, where everything is exactly as it seems, and no subtexts are available for subtext-fanatics. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Crowe's burly poignancy hits you foursquare in the ribs -- right above the ticker. This feels old-fashioned, pure and meat-and-potatoes simple. It's an Irish stew movie. Read more