Bleed for This
Directed by: Ben Younger
Written by: Ben Younger and Pippa
Bianco and Angelo Pizzo.
Starring: Miles Teller (Vinny Paz),
Aaron Eckhart (Kevin Rooney), Ciarán Hinds (Angelo Pazienza), Katey Sagal (Louise
Pazienza), Christine Evangelista (Louise), Amanda Clayton (Doreen Pazienza), Ted
Levine (Lou Duva), Gene Amoroso (Anthony), Daniel Sauli (Jon), Tina Casciani (Heather).
The
true life story that inspired Bleed for This seems so tailor made for an
inspirational, Hollywood boxing movie that you almost cannot believe it’s taken
them more than 20 years to make it. It tells the story of Vinny Pazienza (Miles
Teller), a talented welterweight boxer that doesn’t take his career seriously
enough to become the great boxer he can be. He had a title shot, and then
stayed out late the night before gambling, and lost, big-time. His manager
tells he should retire – but Vinny, and his father Angelo (Ciaran Hinds) aren’t
ready for that yet. It’s Angelo who hires Kevin Rooney (Aaron Eckhart) – one of
Mike Tyson’s trainers, down on his luck due to his alcoholism, to train Vinny.
He decides to move Vinny up not one weight class, but two. No one moves up two
weight classes – but Vinny does. And not only does he do it, he wins. He
finally has the championship belt he always wanted – than a brutal car accident
nearly ends Vinny’s life, and should well have ended his career. But Vinny is
determined.
Bleed
for This should therefore be a wonderful feel good story. Yes, what happens in
the film is entirely predictable – and yet, because it’s based on a true story,
you have to except that and move on. Yet, for some reason, Bleed for This never
really comes together to be anything more than an average film.
Co-writer/director Ben Younger seems to want to go with a more realistic look
and feel to the movie than the average inspirational movie – and admittedly,
that does produce some of the films better moments. But it also undercuts some
of the drama, making what should be big moments feel fairly small. The
screenplay doesn’t help very much, because characters and their motivations
seem hazy, and one note. Then, rapidly, characters change their mind – but somehow
remind one note. Many of the cast members do fine work, but aren’t given the
material to do truly great work. The final scene of the film is one of the most
bizarre and puzzling missteps I can recall in a movie this year.
Unfortunately
for the movie, it’s Teller himself who delivers the films weakest performance.
You can tell the commitment he has to the role – putting on muscle, and first
slimming down and being wiry for the opening scenes, then bulking up a little
for the later ones. He wants to nail the Rhode Island accent that Vinny Paz
has, and does a decent job (although, since I’m now listening to the true crime
podcast Crimetown, about Rhode Island, you can tell he doesn’t quite nail it –
the rest of the cast does). Teller pores everything into Vinny’s determination
to recover and fight again – so much so, that there really are not any other
notes for him to play. You are left with a question as to why he didn’t seem
overly committed before the accident – that guy who stayed up late gambling isn’t
the same guy who was so fiercely determined to come back – but there’s some
work missing to explain why. Aaron Eckhart is much better as Kevin – fat and
balder than Eckhart is normally, he disappears into this character that in many
ways is a walking, talking clichéd – the grizzled boxer training with one last
shot at glory. But again, there seems to be some character work missing – as he
bobs into and out of alcoholism when it’s convenient to the plot. Ciarian
Hinds, and Vinny’s father, is good in the background and as the larger than
life Italian stereo-type – but his late change of heart (and perhaps, change
back, it’s never made clear) doesn’t make much sense. The best performance in the
movie may well be Katy Sagal’s as Vinny’s mother – she’s the only person who
seems to do the rational thing throughout.
What
does work about Bleed for This is mainly in the background – the art direction,
which pays attention to the way the houses of these characters look – as well
as the boxing gyms and back alleys. This is a movie where all the locations
feel lived in and real. The boxing scenes feel less pumped up than normal –
less dramatic, and more down-to-earth, which I both appreciated, and thought
made the film perhaps too subdued. Younger is the talented director behind
Boiler Room (2000) – although with just two films in the 16 years since (2005’s
Prime and now this) – neither of which are anywhere near as good as that one,
you wonder if he will ever fulfill that early promise.
The
film, I think, also drops the ball on something very important – that what
Vinny did, no matter what the result, was incredibly dangerous and incredibly
stupid. He easily could have died or paralyzed himself doing what he does – and
most people who had the condition he had will never get any better, no matter
how hard they try. The film could have at least acknowledged this, instead of
simply perpetuating this idiotic machismo than movies romanticize – as if
something only worth doing if it could kill you – and doing so, makes you a
real man. The final scene of the movie underlines this point in such a ham-fisted
and startling way I was taken aback. Bleed for This is movie that doesn’t
really work, and worse, has a fairly stupid message.
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