Fighting with My Family

This is a very British working class comedy which centres around a wrestling mad family and their dreams of stardom. Its based on a true story and roughly around a documentary of the family made recently. At the helm is one of the writers of The Office, the superior UK version not the US remake. Also on board are a few American actors and Nick Frost from Spaced. The tone of the movie is something like the commitments or Full Monty, you may need to be British to get some of the humour. Fortunately not all movies are made with the states in mind. It is very funny however some of the language and scenes of violence may not make it suitable for smaller kids. Also I have no interest or knowledge of wrestling but that didnt detract from the enjoyment of the movie. This is not a mega-bucks The Rock vehicle, its a low key small budget UK flick with no real surprises but a few laughs along the way. Its quite enjoyable. Also the last thing, the reviewer know as "thebricks" used the final section of his review to call the UK a dump and suggest the people here just drink and fight which is highly offensive to us in the UK. The fact that despite it being flagged twice for being offensive and off topic shows the mods do not seem to care about xenophobia. That being the case then I reckon the US is a dump full of obese low IQ xenophobes who don't understand anything outside of their own trailer park. This movie is not for them.

Although I'm a casual wrestling fan of over 20 years, I wasn't really planning on seeing this. Paige was a good wrestler, but her life story wasn't something I had any interest in. However, even if a lot of stuff might of been "enhanced," the movie doesn't fail to be entertaining. There's a surprisingly good amount of sharp wit and one-liners without being too screwball and keeping the drama intact. All the cast is great, especially Vince Vaughn as the coach who has to dash the recruits' dreams.

But I thought it glossed over too much of what made her special enough to rise in the first place. Sure she had the talent, but if you want to know how she made jump to champion then you're going to be disappointed. So they could've expanded a bit more on that.

Overall, it was a fun time and I can give a hearty recommendation even if you don't care for wrestling.

Fighting With My Family was for sure worth the hype. As a long time fan of Paige and the Knight family, I was very excited to see this film and it did not disappoint. Florence Pugh did an amazing job portraying Paige to the point that you would think they are twins. The story itself is very heartwarming and incredible. Fighting With My Family is for sure a must see.

Siblings Saraya and Zac have been into wrestling for as long as they can remember. Born into a wrestling-mad family they now run a wrestling clinic for kids and take part in the regular wrestling shows and tournaments their parents produce. Their chance to hit the big time arrives when the WWE has auditions in the UK. Could this be their big break?

Thanks to the trailer, I had very low expectations for this. The trailer made the film look very silly and low brow. I wouldn't have watched if it wasn't for a friend pointing out that the film is nothing like the trailer and is far better than it seems.

Turns out they were right. Rather than lowest-common-denominator slapstick the plot is interesting and is complete with some great, clever humour and an engaging warmth. Moves at a good pace: the time just flies by.

All this aided by some solid performances. Florence Pugh is great as Saraya and she is ably supported by Nick Frost, Lena Headey and Jack Lowden as her family. Even Vince Vaughn, usually the kiss of death for any film or TV series, puts in a solid, engaging performance.

All this coming from someone who is not into WWE or wrestling at all.

On the negative side, it does end feeling like just another Rocky remake. Still, it was a funny and interesting journey getting there.

REVIEW - FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY

At first glance this film is a very British film and watching it I thought would American film goers even go to see it because it is very British, the humour, the accents, the houses but at the end of the film I actually realised the most important thing, something that isn't even being used for the promotion of this feel good film, it's actually a true story!

Yes an underdog from Norwich did win the Diva WWE championship belt, not once but twice!

Typical feel good film, made in the best of British style and Dwayne The Rock Johnson producing!

I will admit I was pleasantly surprised by this film and actually laughed out loud at a few of the British jokes included, because of this I now will have to eat my words and take back what I said at the start of this review, yes this appeals to British film goers and yes it will certainly appeal to American film goers also, good call Steven Merchant

Rating 7 out of 10