The Fighter

Director David O. Russell is clearly aware of the tropes that comprise the "inspirational triumph-of-the-underdog sports movie," and that's why he's able to transcend the predictability at the core of his wonderfully entertaining boxing drama, The Fighter. Mark Wahlberg stars as "Irish" Micky Ward, the real-life welterweight from run-down, working-class Lowell, Massachusetts. With his mother, Alice (Melissa Leo), managing his career—assisted by a coterie of sisters—and his unreliable crack-addicted brother, Dicky (Christian Bale), training him, Micky has trouble getting decent fights. He's considering giving up when he falls for Charlene (Amy Adams), a feisty bartender who tells him that his family might not have his best interests at heart. The screenplay paints it all in broad strokes, with a crass menagerie of heavily accented loudmouths surrounding Wahlberg's more reserved, thoughtful turn. But Bale—gaunt and wired—manages to find the broken, tortured soul behind Dicky's clownish wild-man facade. Russell tells the story with both economy and exuberance, cleverly linking Micky's ascent to the filming of an HBO documentary about crack addiction featuring his tailspinning older brother. The boxing matches have an exemplary verisimilitude, as does the movie's treatment of Dicky's struggle. Micky's Rocky-like story is compelling, but the title could just as easily refer to Dicky, and Bale's memorable performance gives The Fighter the extra punch it needs.