Sports movies almost always follow a particular formula. Either a team or one particular individual is an underdog and works really hard at attaining a specific title or championship, with the help of a hard-nosed coach who usually provides the comedic relief. The player/team struggles and almost throws in the towel, eventually comes to an understanding with the misunderstood coach, and they pull it together to win the title/championship they’ve been looking for. They’re usually very feel-good, heartwarming and crowd-pleasing, and while there are plenty of very entertaining sports movies out there, few veer from the above formula. Fighting With My Family, the new wrestling dramedy produced by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, has many of these similarities.
Despite constantly diving into familiar territory, this movie is far from your average sports drama. Fighting With My Family disguises itself as just a straightforward sports movie focused around wrestling, but in actuality, it’s more of a British family drama that just happens to be centered around wrestling. While it’s definitely a movie that wrestling fans will certainly have a greater appreciation of - with plenty of references to the culture behind the sport - this movie still has plenty to offer if you’ve never once watched a wrestling match on TV.
The movie tells the true story of Saraya Bevis, who would later become known as the wrestler Paige (Florence Pugh), and her brother Zak (Jack Lowden). Both come from a family of wrestlers, and help their parents Rick and Julia (Nick Frost and Lena Headey) train prospective newcomers at their local wrestling school in Norwich. The two go to a WWE tryout where Paige is signed and taken under the wing of trainer Hutch Morgan (Vince Vaughn). Zak is forced to stay behind in England while Paige struggles to her newfound life as a WWE wrestler in America.
While the movie is produced by The Rock, is partially set in the United States, and contains Vince Vaughn in a prominent role, this film actually couldn’t feel any more British. The fact that this was written by The Office co-creator Stephen Merchant gave the movie a huge advantage. Not only do we get a movie about wrestling, but Merchant also gives us a very real, sometimes harsh, look at the struggles of working-class England, with the film even containing a darker color palette to reflect the grim reality, despite a fair amount of comedic moments. We get an extensive look at not only Paige’s family, but the countless other individuals they deal with on a regular basis.
And while the movie is mainly about Paige, the fact that it never fully shifts focus away from the rest of her family is part of what makes this movie work so brilliantly. Some of the Bevis family history is touched upon early on in the movie, including Rick’s former life as a criminal as well as Julia’s former drug addiction when she was younger. While the film doesn’t stop everything it’s doing to focus on family history like this - keeping its script tightly-paced - it does make sure to constantly call back to the things we already know about them as a means to drive the plot forward and bring in some character development.
For example, there’s a moment in which the family struggling so bad early on in the movie that Rick contemplates for a moment going back to crime bring in some extra money. The family itself is at a point where they’re desperate to make ends meet. From the tone of his voice, Rick clearly doesn’t give this idea a thought with ease, but he’d do it anyway because he’d be willing to do anything for his family. We never lose sight of the fact that the Bevises are extremely close and will do literally anything to help one another out. In a way, this movie is more of an ensemble piece rather than just one individual.
The movie treats each of its characters with such care that even plenty of the minor characters wind up being incredibly well-developed. Probably one of the best subplots in the movie is Paige’s constant struggles to fit in and compete with three female trainees, Jeri-Lynn, Kristen, and Madison. What makes this subplot work so well is that not only does it ultimately reveal some information about these three supporting characters, but it gives us a clear view at some of Paige’s own flaws, turning her into a well-developed protagonist.
One crucial element that’s prevalent in a lot of sports movies is the fact that it always presents the protagonist as being up against the world. They are an almost-faultless individual who constantly always has the odds pitted against them. Merchant writes Paige as someone who’s her own greatest enemy. While she does encounter obstacles clearly thrown her way - including being constantly berated by Vaughn’s Hutch - it’s made clear throughout the movie that she causes a good deal of drama herself. She’s never made unlikable, as she is ultimately well-intentioned. But she’s also incredibly ambitious, so much to the point that she can turn a deaf ear to views she may not agree with. Her struggles to come to terms with life outside of working-class Norwich make for some excellent character growth.
Paige is also wonderful to watch thanks to the excellent work by actress Florence Pugh. In addition to looking incredibly similar to the wrestler, Pugh brings with her such a natural energy to the role. She manages to often stay incredibly grounded, but she brings with her a raw, powerful energy. She speaks about her family and about wrestling with such incredible passion that allows her to command the scene each time she’s on screen. For one of her first starring roles, she absolutely nails it.
The rest of the cast, too, are on their A-game. Jack Lowden gives a heartbreaking performance as Zak. His story is an absolute tragedy as he struggles to make ends meet for himself stuck in Norwich, and are even more heartbreaking to watch as the film shifts back and forth between him and Paige. And at times, he can be totally intense to watch, as we see him get kicked lower and lower, though still also containing with him a fiery passion the same way that Pugh brings as Paige. We never feel guilted into feeling sorry for him. He struggles, tries to push through it, and yet continues to encounter various hardships.
Nick Frost and Lena Headey bring some nice comedic relief to the cast. The two bring a gleeful sense of optimism throughout the movie, and help balance out Pugh and Lowden as both of them face their own demons. They always show wonderful support, and have a really solid dynamic with the rest of the cast. Frost is at some of his most manic since his days of working with Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg, while Leana Headey gives easily her most likable performance to date, being the total antithesis of her notoriously hated Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones.
Meanwhile, Vince Vaughn is at his funniest in quite some time. Hutch Morgan feels like Vaughn’s own Peter La Fleur character from Dodgeball mixed in with Sergeant Hartman from Full Metal Jacket, constantly hurling insults at the WWE trainees, which makes for some of the film’s most quotable moments. Though even he brings a level of pathos to his role - as mentioned earlier, this does follow the sports movie formula, so we do get a little bit of backstory about the hard-nosed coach stereotype. But like with a lot of other characters’ backstories, the movie only devotes a couple of lines of dialogue to his backstory, which in turn seamlessly pushes the main story forward.
Fighting With My Family may follow a certain formula that goes with sports dramas, but honestly, you’ll find yourself not caring about any of that at all. This is easily one of the most well-written movies in quite some time. Each character is incredibly well-written, and the fact we feel so much empathy for them is further elevated by many fantastic performances. There’s a raw energy that’s felt throughout this entire movie, from its setting, to its darkly-colored cinematography, to its characters. This is a movie where you will truly feel a whole lot better once you finish watching it.
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