Fighting With My Family Review: 7 Ups & 3 Downs
2. Stephen Merchant's "Rock" Solid Direction
Stephen Merchant is an incredibly odd choice to direct a film like this, and yet, in retrospect it's clear to see why he was hand-picked by The Rock himself.
Fighting with My Family is both a weirdo comedy and a homegrown underdog tale, both things Merchant has proven himself extremely well-versed in over the years.
Despite having little previous fandom of wrestling, he directs the film with a surprising visual gusto, juxtaposing the grey, washed-out dullness of Norwich with the sun-kissed beaches of Florida and also the flashy glitz of the WWE.
Merchant employs a few neat match-cuts between wrestling sequences, demonstrating a stylistic flair you wouldn't typically associate him with, elevating the visuals beyond their initial whiff of a TV movie. Not bad at all, Steve.