MOVIE REVIEW - Grudge Match

It looks like a silly movie.  Sylvester Stallone and Robert DeNiro boxing at their age, but here comes Grudge Match.

This is another movie that is an interesting mix of the new, and the old.  It is a boxing movie, but it is not totally the same old thing.  I do give this movie some nice originality points, and some fun points too.  But don't be fooled, you do have to schlog through some terrible decisions, and some stupid content.  But this is a sports comedy that gives us a reason to go to the movies for a moment or two of escapism. 

This is the story of Kid (DeNiro) and Razor (Stallone).   They were each light heavyweight champions of the world from the early 1980's from Pittsburgh.  They fought twice, each winning one fight.  But then Razor suddenly retired, and they two never fought again with no rubber match as was the trend of the 1970's in boxing. Now, some 30 years later, the son of a dead, and shifty promoter from the 1980's wants to schedule the rematch, as each of these guys are now in their 60's.  

Problem is, Razor hates Kid, and there is a ton a baggage between them that goes way back, and much of it has nothing to do with boxing.  But, they do decide to fight, and the training is on.  Kid learns he has a son he didn't know about and hires him as his trainer for this fight.  Razor hires his old trainer from the 1980's to train him.  The hype of the fight starts to gain momentum and it becomes bigger than anyone could imagine.   There are tons of side plots too at play here, and it all adds up to the two finally fighting at the movies end.

There is a lot to like here. First off, it's a story you have not seen before and that's always good.  The creativity is evident as our stars are reliving roles similar to characters they have played before in iconic movies.  Stallone, or course from Rocky, and many of the scenes are lampooned to a degree here that takes you back to the Oscar winning film.  DeNiro of course starring in Raging Bull years ago where he won an Oscar, plays a character similar to the character in that movie, and some of those scenes are "recreated" here.  And that is fun.

But this movie does have a lot of baggage that doesn't make it better.  A sharper rewrite could have made this really great, instead of just good.  What this does well, is pull our aging characters into the 21st century, and it does show the power of social media in our lives today.  This is a blend of the new and the old that for the most part works.  If they could have edited out some needless scenes and rewritten the dialogue at times this would have been way better.  

This has a nice supporting cast in theory, with  Kevin Hart, Alan Arkin, and Kim Basinger.  Sadly, the writing and development of Basinger's character especially is weak and thin. Too bad for an Oscar winner.  But what is great and undeniable is that you feel the whole time that this movie is going to end up doing the right thing.   And you do wonder throughout, what is actually going to happen when these too old geezers get into the ring.  And the payoff there is strong. And to me, that is part of any good movie. Wondering how it's all going to  play out.  

Grudge Match.  This may look silly overall, but it's actually OK.