Review #1,480: 'Fighting with My Family' (2019)

Wrestling movies don't come along very often, at least not those that take the sport seriously. Perhaps the idea of adults dressing up in ridiculously skimpy costumes and acting out a pre-choreographed fight is theatrical enough already, so a leap to the big screen would be ultimately redundant, or maybe the sport is simply too niche to guarantee a healthy return on a studios investment. But ever since The Wrestler put Mickey Rourke through the ringer, there has been a newfound respect for wrestling and the athletes who push their bodies to the very limit, particularly from those who have never sat down to watch a WWE event in their lives. Fighting with My Family continues this trend, loosely retelling the story of Saraya-Jade Bevis , aka Paige, who emerged from a working-class wrestling family in Norwich, England to become a WWE champion.

The film begins in 2002, with wrestling-mad 10 year-old Zak Knight getting pumped for the start of a WWF pay-per-view event before his younger sister Saraya turns over the channel to watch her favourite show, Charmed. Fast-forward a decade, and the two siblings have embraced their parents' passion for wrestling and have adopted ring names of their own. Zak (Jack Lowden) has become 'Zodiac Zak' and Saraya (Florence Pugh) is now 'Britani Knight', and they perform regularly at their wrestling club. The dream of dad Ricky (Nick Frost) and mum Julia (Lena Headey) is for their kids to make the transition to the big leagues, and tapes are regularly sent off to promoters in the hope of catching their eye. They finally receive a call from WWE trainer Hutch Morgan (Vince Vaughn) and receive an invitation for try-outs, but after a gruelling audition, only Saraya, now using the stage name Paige, is selected.

As Zak is sent into a spiral of anger and depression, Paige struggles to work out who she is in Florida's sun-drenched world of golden-skinned models. Somewhat an outsider even back home (outside of the close-knit wrestling community), she feels isolated, mentally unprepared for the rigorous workout schedules and the standards required for the big-time. Fighting with My Family often flirts with cliche, but this is a sports movie after all. It works by developing characters we can relate to and truly root for, regardless of how ridiculous you may find the whole wrestling craze. This is down to the combined efforts of writer/director Stephen Merchant, who seems like the unlikeliest candidate to helm a wrestling picture, and the cast, who are all entirely believable.

Pugh in particular finds the right balance of inner vulnerability and the outer toughness Hutch no doubt signed her up for, and Merchant helps bring out these traits with the right balance of comedy, drama and sentiment. Frost is also perfectly cast, showing once again that he's a terrific actor in his own right and not just Simon Pegg's sidekick. For wrestling fans, there are plenty of cameos to spot, with Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson showing up for an extended cameo that may feel like a gimmick until you learn of his role in Paige's real-life story. Above all, Fighting with My Family is a heartfelt tale that celebrates embracing the inner weirdo and the sport that welcomes such misfits with open arms - if you're tough enough.


Directed by: Stephen Merchant
Starring: Florence Pugh, Jack Lowden, Lena Headey, Nick Frost, Vince Vaughn, Dwayne Johnson
Country: UK/USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,422: 'Outlaw King' (2018)

For all its thrilling battle scenes and quotable dialogue, Mel Gibson's Braveheart was hardly a textbook of historical accuracy, particularly with the way it seemed to promote William Wallace as Scotland's one and only saviour, and relegated the future king, Robert the Bruce, to coward and turncloak. A movie to set the record straight always seemed inevitable and necessary, but it took a long time coming. 23 years after Braveheart took home 5 Academy Awards, David Mackenzie's biopic of Bruce, Outlaw King, has finally arrived. It almost works as a quasi-sequel to Gibson's crowd-pleaser, beginning with the King of England gathering various Scottish nobles to sign a peace treaty that will signal an end to the fighting and climaxing with a bloody battle at Loudoun Hill. Times have changed since 1995, and Mackenzie seems intent on infusing the story with a gritty realism and greater attention to historical fact, meaning that there'll be no defiant final cry of "Freedom!" here.

Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival and released on Netflix two months later, this sullen tale of bearded men going at each other with huge swords sets out to impress from the very get go. The likes of Robert the Bruce (Chris Pine), his father (James Cosmo), and their main rival for the Scottish crown John Comyn III (Callan Mulvey), have been summoned to the tent of Edward I (Stephen Dillane) to metaphorically lay down their swords and accept the invading English as their rulers. The camera glides across the room as they exchange pleasantries between gritted teeth, before moving outside for an impromptu sword fight between Robert and the Prince of Wales (Billy Howle). Filmed in one continuous take, the scene ends with the King demonstrating his power with his newest weapon, a ginormous catapult, which he fires into the besieged Stirling Castle. Both Edward and Mackenzie are showing off here, but its a thrilling moment nonetheless, and if anything is a sure sign of Netflix's intent to flex their own industry muscles. It propels the film into a breathless first half, as Robert defies the English by crowning himself King after Wallace is executed, and takes his threadbare army off to war.

The story moves at a relentless pace, with Robert suffering catastrophic defeats at the hands of both the English and rebellious Scottish clans, and his following grows increasingly smaller. Following these early skirmishes, Outlaw King struggles to fully engage, and this is mainly down to the portrayal of Robert himself. Pine is a highly charismatic actor with some serious chops (just look at Mackenzie's previous film, Hell or High Water), but the film never really seems sure of how to portray him. He leads his men from one battering to the next, and we never really understand why his troops stick with him. He marries Elizabeth de Burgh (Florence Pugh) for political reasons but they end up falling in love, with the outspoken Queen of Scots clearly seeing something in her husband that we cannot. The same can be said for one of Robert's most fearsome warriors, James Douglas (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), who amps the testosterone levels significantly in a foaming-at-the-mouth performance that borders on cartoonish. The highly engaging first hour is still enough reason to give Mackenzie two hours of your time, and fans will at least be treated to a Chris Pine full frontal. Just don't expect Outlaw King to subvert the historical drama in any way and try to enjoy it for what it is: a bruising adventure that school kids can enjoy when it's movie day in history class.


Directed by: David Mackenzie
Starring: Chris Pine, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Florence Pugh, Stephen Dillane, Billy Howle, James Cosmo
Country: UK/USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie