Fighting with My Family

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

I'm never been a big fan of professional wrestling, but Fighting with My Family does a good job of making you care about the characters, which, in turn, makes you care about their dreams of making it into the WWE. I was really impressed by the performances of Florence Pugh and Jack Lowden. Yes, this movie is largely fictionalized but, then again, so is pro wrestling.

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.

I stopped watching WWF about 10 years or so ago, around the time the Rock and others were leaving...but I STILL loved this movie.

Fun coming of age story with a great amount of laughter, drama, and of course wrestling. Well paced with decent writing and all the actors do well in their roles. For wrestling fans and non fans alike. There's something for everyone to like.

Full disclosure first, I am a wrestling fan and I knew the majority of Paige's story and how the WWE and pro-wrestling works before seeing this.

The Knight family love professional wrestling. It has changed the lives of Julia (Lena Headey) and Ricky (Nick Frost) and their passion has transferred to their three children, particularly to their son Zak (Jack Lowden) and daughter Saraya (Florence Pugh). Having grown up performing for the families Norwich based federation, a shot at the big time comes when both children are asked to attend try-outs for World Wrestling Entertainment.

All that said, you don't really need to know anything about wrestling to enjoy "Fighting with My Family". It's a relatable story of someone from an unlikely background overcoming the odds to find success far from home. It's has a very British sense of humour, with lots of jokes with swearwords or about class differences, both between the Knights and Zak's prospective in-laws and between Paige and her peers once she's over in the performance centre. It probably has slightly too much swearing to be a real family film, but is still pretty gentle in its overall tone and themes. What makes the film successful is the performances of actors in the key roles. Frost and Headey are great, as is Florence Pugh, who continues to be a star on the rise after her performance in "Little Drummer Girl" last year. It's Jack Lowden, however, who has the most to do and excels with it, dealing with the disappointments and temptations that his life gives him as a parallel to his sisters.

That perhaps leads to me the films biggest weakness, despite how unlikely it seems, Paige's journey isn't perhaps that extraordinary. She's way more talented and experienced than any of her colleagues but struggles a bit to overcome her own awkwardness. It's not so much an emotional rollercoaster as it is a jittering ski lift. To combat that, we get the opposing journey of Zak which, if anything, is actually more interesting, as he struggles with fatherhood, disillusionment and jealously before coming to terms and reconciling with his family.

"Fighting with My Family" is an entertaining and funny film if a little slight and though I can't imagine it's going to be anybody's favourite film of all time, it's a lot of fun to watch and I'm sure would be enjoyed by anyone.

A little bonus if you are a fan of the UK wrestling scene from the past few years is spotting cameos from current stars. Dave Mastiff and Kip Sabian are two of the most obvious but there's a few more (and a dig a Pete Dunne which is funny, if slightly confusing).