Fighting with My Family (2019)
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Fighting with My Family Movie Review
Fighting with My Family is a 2019 biopic directed by Stephen Merchant and starring Florence Pugh, Jack Lowden and Vince Vaughn. It’s a typical, but effective flick.
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“Paige, I myself have come from a wrestling family too.
I know exactly what it means to you.
But don’t worry about being the next me.
Be the first you“
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It follows Paige, a girl who rose to become a WWE star. Let’s first get this out of the way, WWE is in no way, shape or form a sport. It simply isn’t. It’s acting and make-believe with no real wrestling happening in it, and no matter how much the movie tried to legitimize it as a sport, it failed to do that as you cannot change the facts of life.
But the movie still ended up being hugely entertaining in those fight sequences despite me not liking this stuff as it was really well crafted and fun. The movie is your typical inspirational sports biopic with all of the beats of the opportunity arising to the failure to in the end triumph emerging.
But the movie still managed to be engaging despite it being constantly predictable thanks in large part to its heart, very strong characterization and interpersonal relationships. I am of course talking about Saraya and Zak who share a wonderful sibling relationship that was superbly developed here.
Jack Lowden is quite good as Zak and following his story was to me more interesting than the protagonist’s story as it was quite relatable and human seeing him struggle with being overshadowed by his sister. The movie really portrayed having a dream and not managing to fulfill it superbly and how tough that can be.
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I also really enjoyed Florence Pugh’s tremendous performance in the title role as she looks and acts the part so well. Vince Vaughn is excellent as her trainer and was typecast in this role, but he’s always good in it (‘Hacksaw Ridge’) so I was okay with that.
Fighting with My Family is mostly quite engaging as it’s solidly paced and only the first act was a bit slow for me, but the rest of the movie kept my interest high. I did like the emotional impact in it and that really took me by surprise. The direction and technical aspects are solid, though nothing too remarkable.
Fighting with My Family is yet another inspirational sports biopic in approach as it hits all of those familiar, predictable beats of the genre, but what makes it solid and quite engaging nonetheless is its big heart, the acting which is very good across the board and a particularly strong sibling relationship at its core.
