Take 40: Christy
Based on the true story of Christy Martin, Christy is a sports biopic that stars Sydney Sweeney in a role that is very much a departure from her usual acting fair. Christy is an aspiring women’s boxer whose grit, determination, and love of punishing people in the face takes her from a small town in West Virginia to the world boxing stage where she plays an integral role in putting women’s boxing on the map. All the while, she is struggling with her own inner turmoil about who she really is vs. her public persona. With her on the road to the top is her manager turned husband (husband? Right!?!) who proves to be the most lethal opponent for her outside of the ring than any she ever faced inside it.
Sweeney is definitely taking a swing at it (no pun intended) and it absolutely works her. She is NOT relying on body and beauty here. She is a stocky little dynamo in the earliest parts of the film which are crucial. There almost none of the buxom blond bombshell we are used to. She IS Christy from the very beginning. Sure, there is bit of a glow up later in the film, but she never becomes a full-blown knockout (again no pun)- she is only ever allowed to be lowercase p-pretty, never capital-G Gorgeous and Glamorous. She actually just gets to live in the character and she’s great.
Sweeney’s co-star Ben Foster is certainly no angel at any time in this film. He plays Christy’s manager/husband, Jim. He comes at a time where she is especially vulnerable, having been dumped by her girlfriend for a man. What’s good for the goose…He starts out as a jerk, a little sleazy and then eventually evolves to absolutely disgusting. And as with Sweeney, the progression is seamless. At no point are the the audience ever meant to like the character; by the end, we loathe him. Ugh.
I saw this one as a Secret Movie Series. I had never even heard of it until seeing a poster in the theater the day before. Usually, I check Reddit to at least get an idea of what the movie might be. I went in completely blind for this one. I never heard of Christy Martin and I didn’t know what to expect. My only other real exposure to the world of women’s boxing was Million Dollar Baby. As soon as it was clear what movie I had signed on for, I did a quick Google to ensure that this movie was nothing like the ending of that. When I say, never again, I mean it. If this one was headed anywhere near that route, I wouldn’t be staying. The way that movie ended still haunts me. Once I was assured that there’d at least be none of that, I was committed. Fortunately, Google had not let me down in that regard. Nothing like what happened to that character happens here, but it did hint that there was another type of sadness in this one. And boy, is there. It gets pretty dark, especially given that fact that this is a true story. Almost as messed up what happened there, but fortunately with a much better outcome for the protagonist.
I don’t want to give away too much, but I will say the ending is fairly satisfying. What I wanted was THAT scene, I’d name some other films that would make it clear exactly what scene or moment I am talking about, but being a true story, we don’t get what would have been that Hollywood moment. However this is a true story after all, and they had to respect the source material, so I get it. in a story like this, what we get is about as good as you can. But still, would have been nice…
Overall, a solid film. The performances are good. The pacing is good too- the two hours and fifteen never drag. But it’s heavy. The replay value is pretty low for this one. I don’t see myself returning to this often, but I’d watch this again as opposed to that other one. It’s educational- I knew nothing about Christy Martin prior to this. Would sit through a documentary if it popped up for sure. And Don King was pretty darn funny here too.
My score: 7.8- not perfect, but above average. Seeing Sweeney develop her chops is reason enough to check it out.
Agee or disagree? Wanna fight about it? Do so in the comments. And until next time…
And since I stink at lettering, I used theirs for my sketch. Thoughts?
