Why It's Disappointing: Be clear: Southpaw is in no way a bad movie, but it certainly had the potential to be much more than merely a functionally entertaining sports movie. Jake Gyllenhaal gives an awards-worthy performance in the lead role, but because he's surrounded by so much generic soap opera drama, there's absolutely no way he'll end up in Oscar contention for his worthy work here. It's a perfectly adequate film about one man's redemption, but the overall feeling that it's a poor man's Raging Bull is pretty tough to escape from. How To Improve It: Reconfigure the family drama to make it feel less familiar, throw a few more boxing matches into the mix, and play more on the excellent banter between Gyllenhaal and Forest Whitaker. Also get Rachel McAdams' death out the way quicker, because it takes way too long to happen given how much the trailers already raked over it.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
