Lutando Pela Família

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 watched this at home on BluRay from my public library. When it first came out the title threw me, I don't like seeing movies of families fighting. But I didn't understand, this is about a family where mom, dad, brother, and sister are all wrestlers.

It is based on the true story of a real British family. Florence Pugh (who I found so good in the 2016 Lady Macbeth) plays the lead character, Saraya Knight, who longed to get a break and get into the WWE as a featured wrestler. When she gets the chance she finds out it is harder than she ever imagined, including leaving her home and family behind to train in the USA.

All of the first half-hour and much of the remainder is in England, as such it contains much of the uniqueness of British characters, British humor, and British mannerisms. Viewers who don't appreciate that may not enjoy the movie, but I enjoyed it very much. There is a very nice story here and the actors bring it to life very well.

One of my favorite movies of 2019.

Edit: I watched it again in March 2020, a really entertaining movie.

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).

The film was hilarious and it made me laugh constantly, I'm not familiar with the true story so I can't talk about that but I went to the cinema to watch a film that would make me laugh and it did just that.

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.