Dans les cordes

Though ostensibly based on a true story, 'Against the Ropes' is pure movie hokum from start to finish.

Jackie Kallen made a name for herself as one of the few successful female managers in the history of professional boxing. In the movie's prologue, we meet Jackie as a young girl so obsessed with the sport that she spends her off hours at the gym helping her dad train her uncle, a fighter who died very early in his career. Years later, Jackie, on a dare, agrees to manage her own player - if only she can find a talent who will be willing to put his life and his career in the hands of an untried but determined woman. She alights on Luther Shaw, a drug-dealer-with-a-heart-of-gold whom she picks up in the nearby projects. Luther is, for the most part, a fictional character, a composite, we're told, of several of the fighters Kallen led to victory in the ring.

Regardless of how much of this is fiction or nonfiction, 'Against the Ropes' fails to generate any heat either as a character study or as a human drama. We're supposed to find all this interesting simply because Kallen is an attractive woman trying to prove herself in a man's world. Yet, the story is hackneyed, the dialogue corny, the characters and their conflicts trite and underdeveloped. The Cheryl Edwards screenplay is so sketchy and poorly articulated that we often don't understand why characters are behaving the way they are, particularly when it comes to the rough-and-tumble relationship between Jackie and Luther. One moment they are getting along swimmingly, and the next Jackie is strutting around blowing her own horn while Luther sits pouting in the corner. Whole episodes, which could have gone a long way towards explaining the characters' motivations, seem to have been dropped from the finished product at the last minute.

Kallen is obviously a change-of-pace role for Meg Ryan who generally plays the innocent ingénue lead in romantic comedies. Yet, despite the fact that she is a trifle more serious here and even gets to work with an accent (the mark of any 'serious' performer looking to buck up her credentials), the movie itself is so lacking in tension and grit and so determinedly upbeat and optimistic that it really doesn't give the actress a whole lot of opportunity to truly stretch those acting muscles. In fact, in the final scene, the film turns into little more than a vanity production for the waning star. Omar Epps fares a bit better, turning in a performance of strength and dignity, though the script lets him down by failing to develop his character to any appreciable extent.

The one fight scene is only moderately well executed and comes way too late in the film for anyone interested in the sport to still be hanging around ringside at that point. In fact, no one comes even close to scoring a knockout blow in 'Against the Ropes' - not Ryan, not Epps and certainly not the audience. 'Against the Ropes' is a sucker punch all the way.

The movie focuses to Jackie Kallen(Meg Ryan), a Jewish girl from Detroit, a secretary plenty of wide dreams. After a stake with a famous commissioner(Tony Shalhoub)she becomes a boxing promoter of a young boxer(Omar Epps).Then she hires a retired coach(Charles S. Dutton) for training the inexperienced boxer.

Although is a fictional story is based on true events referred by United States's most noted boxing manager. In addition, are narrated her relationship with the tough boxer, her fight to survive into boxing world, a sport strongly dominated by male sex. It's developed with humor, love and a little bit of drama. The casting is frankly excellent, a sympathetic though selfish Meg Ryan, a two-fisted but sensible Omar Epps, today well known as the doctor in ¨House¨, such as Tony Shaloub by ¨Monk¨series; furthermore Jose Cortese and Tim Daly(son of James Daly and brother of Tyne Daly) as a sports reporter. The motion picture packs an enjoyable cinematography by Jack N. Greene( Clint Eastwood's usual cameraman) and catching soundtrack by Michael Kamen(Weapon Lethal, Die hard). The movie is professionally directed by usually actor Charles S Dutton in his first movie, he has followed directing television movies. Rating : Acceptable and entertaining . The film will like to Meg Ryan fans and boxing buffs but displays nice combats.

This movie couldn't decide what it was. It's not a bioPic. As Kallen, herself, said, "The character is named Jackie Kallen and she sounds like me but they changed so much of the story that it wasn't me... it's just a little confusing to be the actual subject of a movie and yet have it not follow your life enough that you can't recognize yourself." It's not a Rocky story, rising from nothing to champ, because it can't decide who is Rocky - is it Jackie or Luther? It's not Meg Ryan's usual RomCom, although it flirts with the idea in some scenes. And, finally the boxing has no authenticity (the last fight is a joke). The problem with trying to span so many genres it ends up failing in them all. What a waste. I give this film a 4 (poor) out of 10. {BiographyX, RomanceX, Boxing DramaXXX}

This is a not-very-well-written film that nonetheless has redeeming features. The story arc is clichéd, (underdog succeeds against all odds, hubris sets in, everything lost, then redemption), and Meg Ryan, who I think is a better actress than some, is badly miscast here. She just can't come across as tough enough for this role. The slutty clothes her character wore, although looking very nice, didn't fit. (Even though I'm sure she was channeling Kallen) Omar Epps put in a very nice performance, and I have to compliment Kerry Washington and Charles S. Dutton for their work, although there was not enough of Washington. Also Tony Shalhoub who I haven't much cared for, shows his chops by going against type playing an imposing and menacing character. I see that Dutton directed and did well, inasmuch as I never noticed the direction. This film has deep faults, but somehow works, at least to a point. I thought it was OK.

I don't follow boxing, but the lady that Meg Ryan portrays is apparently the female ground-breaker as a boxing manager. The movie is set in Cleveland, on a dare she finds a local black man who appears to have potential, she gets a retired trainer to look at her kid, and together they make a winner. Tony Shaloub is the best here, as the ruthless local boxing manager and promoter who gets his cronies to blacklist her and prevent her boxer from fighting in local fights. So she has to take him to places like Buffalo, NY and cities in Florida to win fight that will eventually get him a title fight. A different role for Meg Ryan, she changes her voice and has to play a "hard" woman. In the DVD extras, the real lady boxing manager is interviewed and it is a nice addition to the story that was inspired by her life, but many things have been changed so it is not really a biographical sketch. The movie is better than its IMDb rating would indicate.