The Fighter (David O. Russell, 2010)

Being based on a true story only gets you so far in the interest stakes, and while Christian Bale dependably does his wacko turn as the aspiring champ's chump druggie brother, Mark Wahlberg's character as the fighter Micky Ward is a stolid one which could actually do with the cartoonish klutzery of a Rocky. The story progression is the same, though, from rags to unlikely glory, with just the addition of a white-trash family as Micky's management and entourage, who the director invites us to find both repugnant and comic at the same time. Not that these shortcomings deterred the Academy Award voters, who inexplicably nominated it in seven categories. But then they do like their salt-of-the-earth underdog stories above and beyond the call of duty.

5/10