Resurrecting the Champ

August 24th, 2007 by James Cook | Source:

Directed by: Rod Lurie
Written by: Michael Bortman, Allison Burnett. Based on an article by J.R. Moehringer.
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Josh Hartnett, Kathryn Morris, Dakota Goyo, Alan Alda

Score: 7/10

I hadn’t been paying much attention to Resurrecting the Champ. In fact it was completely off my radar, and I didn’t even really see anything about the movie until a month ago, and at the time I remember thinking it just looks like one of those by the numbers uplifting sports movies that we seem to get once a year. After seeing it I’m pleased to say it isn’t like those other clichéd dramatic-sports themed movies, but also doesn’t really do anything mind blowing.

Erik (Josh Hartnett) is an aspiring sports writer who isn’t given the respect he deserves at work. He’s never been given the chance to shine and has to cover a bunch of boxing matches that nobody seems to care about. One night he stumbles upon a homeless man who calls himself the champ (Samuel L. Jackson) and claims to be one-time boxing great Bob Satterfield .

Erick sees a chance to make a name for himself; he sets out to write an article about the once great boxer. The pairing of Josh Hartnett and Samuel L. Jackson is great and the two work very well off of each other. Other than his appearance in Black Snake Moan it’s been a while since Jackson has had a role with any substance, and he proves here that he still has what it takes.

Much of what the movie gets right may be the interaction between Erik and the champ, but it’s also the supporting characters that surround them. Alan Alda is always brilliant and he doesn’t disappoint in the role of Erik’s boss. He plays his usual grumpy self and the scenes with him and Josh Hartnett are some of the best in the movie. There’s also a fantastic cameo from an unrecognizable Peter Coyote who plays Epstein, a man who question Erik’s article and stirs up a lot of trouble for him.

Teri Hatcher also turns up as a network executive at Showtime, but is more of a distraction than anything else. Her performance is very flat and the scenes she’s in are more awkward than anything else.

The main reason why I think this decent movie isn’t able to become something great is because a huge portion of the story is about a father wanting to impress his son. The reason why this doesn’t work is because Josh Hartnett just isn’t believable as a dad, and every time there’s a scene with his character and his son it just grinds the movie to a halt.

Overall, Resurrecting the Champ is a decent movie that could have and probably should have been a lot better. The movie does suffer from some fairly big missteps but still managed to keep my interest. Mainly due to the fact of a pretty big turn of events with the story that I wasn’t expecting. If you’re looking for something to watch now that the big blockbusters are done and before the big fall movies come out this is worth taking a look at.