AGAINST THE ROPES

RATING 2.5

(Director: Charles S. Dutton, PG-13, 111 min)

Jackie Kallen (Meg Ryan) grows up surrounded by boxing but it's a man's world and they prefer their woman in skimpy clothes carrying signs with round numbers. She wants more... Jackie gets an opportunity to put her money where her mouth is and buys a boxer's contract for a buck from LaRocca (Tony Shalhoub). She realizes her new boxer lost his last fight because he's into drugs, but the thug that comes to his house, Luther Shaw (Omar Epps) is worth bailing out of jail and getting into the ring.

She thinks she's got a champion on her hands; she just needs the right man in her corner (Charles S. Dutton) and a chance to get fights for Luther. LaRocca and the boys don't want her to have anything to do with fight promoting, but she finds a way to prove them wrong - the only problem is that she's starting to believe all the hype about herself and if she's not careful she's going to wind up just like the men she despises.

This is a fictionalized story of the real Jackie Kallen (the most successful female boxing promoter). Unfortunately, the storyline is very formulaic and although it tries hard to wring emotion out of the audience, it never really succeeds. The Kallen character goes from a woman trying to make it in this "mans game" to "It's all about me" - getting caught up in the need to be in the spotlight and alienating everyone in her corner. It's hard to get past the unlikable-ness that all of the characters display at some point in the movie. There are times when this movie works but it goes on too long and suffers from a sappy ending.

Home

Movie Chick Leigh Ann:
"It's hard to make a good boxing movie (they didn't do it here) but at least it's better than The Main Event - 2.5"

Movie Chick Cherryl:
"Most of the time you can feel the puppet strings they are using to manipulate the audience, they are trying too hard to drag you in - 2.5"