Customer Reviews

Against the Ropes [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This movie is a great story of how to fight for what you believe in and that success does not come easy. Based loosely on the true story of Jackie Callen, Meg Ryan is wonderful as a woman trying to break into the boys-club of boxing management. She grew up loving boxing and knows the sport inside out. After being mistreated and underappreciated by the men she works for in sports, she goes out on her own with a young thug named Luther (the fine Omar Epps) whom she thinks has potential. With help from some old friends of her late uncle (himself a pro boxer), she turns Luther into a winner. Along the way, the attention goes to Jackie's head and she starts to alienate those around her, including her fighter who then wants out of his contract with her.

Charles S. Dutton directed and plays trainer Felix, Tony Shahloub is Jackie's main adversary and Tim Daly is a local TV reporter and her romantic interest. It is a great movie, but I think the ending is kind of abrupt, Luther wins the title fight everyone thought he wasn't ready for, then he and Jackie hug and make up...did he get out of his contract? Did she hook up with the reporter? Meanwhile, the real Jackie Callen was married with two sons when she started in the business and was from Detroit, not Cleveland. The screenwriter took quite a bit of poetic license. It is still a good movie though, a great mix of comedy and drama.

****
I really loved this movie. I read the other reviews (most of which were negative) and strongly disagree with them. I think Meg Ryan was wonderful, likewise Charles Dutton and the other actors. I am not a boxing fan. That doesn't matter. This movie is good entertainment. It is based on a true story of a female boxing manager who lets fame go to her head, makes some bad choices, and eventually...discovers what really matters. Men will love it (for the fight scenes, Meg Ryan, and the competition) and women will love it because it shows what women are capable of---anything---even in a man's world). Rent it or buy it---you won't be sorry. Great date movie.
****

Grab this DVD as quickly as you can. Here's why:
1. It tells the true story of a woman, Jackie Kallen, who broke into the male-dominated boxing world. Very inspirational and Meg Ryan's performance is strong and solid.
2. There's an interview with the real Jackie Kallen and a behind the scenes look at how and why the movie was made.
3. The movie is gripping to watch and Kallen isn't portrayed as a stereotype or saint but as a very real (and flawed) person. In short, this isn't a "fluffy" movie but one that tries to be relatively honest (by Hollywood standards).
Very riveting, great fight scenes, strong perfromances - what more is there to say?

Okay, I heard that this movie wasn't so great, and like other Meg Ryan fans, I love to watch her in movies like "Sleepless In Seattle" and "You've Got Mail", but I think I was just really pleasantly surprised by this movie.

Meg Ryan plays Jackie Kallen, a woman who's been around the sport of boxing all of her life. And only until years later after being pushed around and stepped all over, Jackie Kallen began her journey to gain the respect of the other men in the business. See, the top-dogs of boxing, the managers and all, say it's a "man's world", but Jackie Kallen proves otherwise, as she hires Luther: a strong fighter, but weak minded man from the projects. Jackie Kallen takes Luther in to be trained by a very good friend of hers, and slowly but surely, Luther begins to become a better boxer and Jackie will soon find herself absorbing all of the attention they're about to get and will be blind to see the fact that it's her fighter who's now being walked all over. You'll just have to see how things turn out. And guess what? It may not be a romantic comedy, but there were moments throughout this movie that had me crying!

I was very surprised at everyones' performances. I think the acting was really good, and that this movie had very few flaws. I love Meg Ryan as an actress, and since I've liked every other movie she's in, I figured I'd give this one a shot. I'm glad I did, 'cause I plan on adding this onto my DVD collection!

This movie proves that Meg Ryan is capable of pulling off any role. She doesn't have to be "America's Sweetheart", but really, I don't care. I'll watch any movie with her in it, because she is so good of an actress.

9-18-2006

I just borrowed this movie from my city library. It seems sometimes that some people have an urge to be negative, maybe because THEY can't act! THEY can't Write! THEY can't Direct!

Meg Ryan as usual, was cute, though more mature, AND SEXY, as usual.

Omar Epps was excellent, & it was enjoyable how he eventually showed he had a heart, even though he was a former Drug Dealer whom Jackie Kallen turned around & really cared to help him show his future Championship attitude in many ways.

Charles S. Dutton, I believe is an excellent actor & did a fine job in Directing this film... Those who complained are the people who can NOT doing anything, except complain.

I was unhappy about Jackie's success going to her own head, as if SHE were the ONLY reason for "Their" Success, but quite happy when she finally saw her jerky-self-centeredness that had become her & she changed & was not afraid to apologize for her stupid selfishness.

I cheered, along with the boxing crowd for Luther, for Jackie, for Felix AND for Jackie's office friend & her TV Friend whom she had also screwed-over, but apologized to.

It does leave you with a Good feeling, whether you are a man, or a woman... You know, women should be loved for their beauty AND their Brains, as well as those who have the
"Stick-to-itiveness" qualities that Jackie, Luther AND Felix had.

I cheer them, and ALL people like them, clapping as if I were with them at the fight. AND... a HUGE BOOING of those Negative Reviewers who can do nothing else, but be negative!!!

I MUST also congratulate Tony Shalub whom has really grown into an Excellent,Quite Versatile Actor... Good job Tony!!!

I immediately contacted Amazon to look for this movie I WILL Happily add this to my 500-600 Video library collection!!!

BUY IT!!! YOU WILL BE HAPPY YOU DID!!!
J. Rodrigues
[...]

I didn't have very high expectations going into this movie either, but I was pleasantly surprised. I actually found this movie to be pretty entertaining and the story line was good enought for me. It's not the most amazing movie you'll ever watch, but you don't have to like boxing to enjoy it. I would recommend this movie as a nice one watcher.

One of the reasons I liked this movie was the message of you can do anything you set your mind to do regardless of the obstacles in the way. The movie starts off in 1972 with a little girl standing by the ring watching the boxers fight. You can see the fire in her eye, and as a little girl she really loved boxing. Fastward to adulthood and Jackie is an Executive Assistant to Irv Able. Boxing is her passion and working as an Executive Assistant is her way to be involved. A night out at a party she gets into a discussion with La Rocca (Tony Shaloub) and he offers her one of his boxers for a dollar. She is more than up for the challenge. Problem is the boxer is a major crackhead, and has smoked away all his money. He is in no condition to fight for anything except for finding a way to feed his sorry drug habit.

Enter Luther Shaw, a drug dealer by trade, but Jackie sees something in him that she can work with. Especially after Luther knocks out the boxer she was supposed to work with. Luther is tough, stubborn and he thinks he knows it all. Enter boxing trainer Felix Reynolds (Charles Dutton). Felix takes no mess and has no problem putting Luther in his place and bringing him down a notch. Hearing Meg Ryan say words like "off the hook" and "the bomb" in her accent was too funny too me. I know she was playing her role, but it just came out as forced and it just did not sound right. Omar Epps looked really good in his role. You can tell he buffed up to play this role, and his performance was a good one.

I also liked how Jackie was willing to help Luther secure a better place to live and how to manage his finances. When Luther thanks Jackie for helping him you could see that was hard for him to do, but you could also see his vulnerability, and could sense he really appreciated Jackie for looking out for him. Something he has not had happen for him in his life. I thought that was a touching scene.

Sammy mess with Luther's head convincing Luther that Jackie does not have his best interest in mind and that Jackie will have more of a career then he would. Jackie in fact has gotten beside herself. The attention is going to her head and Luther wants out of his contract with her.

Shaw has to fight contender Pedro Hernandez sooner then expected. In three weeks. Will he be ready? Will Luther Win or lose? Needless to say Shaw is a huge under dog. Jackie hands Luther over to La Rocca and realizes that was a huge mistake. Kallen gives him a pep talk that gives him a major boost during the fight. Jackie fades into the background, giving Luther the spotlight. One of the funny lines was Renee (Kerry Washington) who is Jackie's best friend in the film saying, "you call me for Black up" when Jackie goes into a rough neighborhood.

I feel the movie is worth seeing at least once. It's not a fantastic movie, but it kept my attention. The ending was rather abrupt. The movie left some unanswered questions. I really enjoyed Omar's and Dutton's performance in the film.

This film is 'inspired' by the real life story of Jackie Kallen, the first sucessful female boxing manager (herself appearing as one sports reporter -- see the last one in the press conference). Jackie is played by Meg Ryan who could be really feeling like 'against the ropes' because of these recent flops, but to do her justice, the film, or her performance itself, is not as bad as some people say. The problem lies somewhere else -- the by-the-numbers script.

OK, but the story per se is intriguing. Jackie Kallen is doing thankless jobs like serving coffee for her insulting boss in the male-dominating world. Provoked by another insulting promoter played by Tony Shalhaub, Jackie accepts his challenge, and takes a street-wise boy Omar Epps under her wing, to make him new champion. She also enlists a help from the retired trainer Charles S Dutton (who also is the director of the film).

Meg Ryan, often dressed in colorful and sexy clothes, and doing lower and deeper voice than she usually is, is clearly trying to look and sound like Jackie, with aggressive and foul-mouthed attitudes. That works at first, but soon it gets obvious that she is acting ... not bad acting in itself, but still acting, or I should say, faking. In her good films in the past (even the brief scenes in 'Top Gun') she was not faking, being always very natural. Even that fake orgasm in 'When Harry Met Sally...' was not a fake.

The major defect of 'Against the Ropes' is this -- it doesn't look real at all. Whatever the truths about Jackie Kallen story, the present story is made with old formulas -- initial humiliation, small success, ego-tripping act, hero/heroine's regret, then final showdown -- all of them give us the impression that the film is white-washed. And this story is told too slowly.

With Omar Epps whose biceps convince us of the character he is playing, and the long-awaited final moment which succeeds in creating the excitement of the boxing, 'Against the Ropes' ends with a great conclusion. I wish the process coming there were constructed with some originality, or tighter direction.

A predicatble little movie, but Meg Ryan does a great job. It is a role for her that is quite a bit different from her traditional image . . she is getting a little older too, and it is more logical for her to play these roles. Some of the fight scenes are a bit rough, but she is a pleasure to watch.

Apparently since her failed romance with Russell Crowe during filming of the 2000 film "Proof of Life", Meg Ryan has cultivated a bad girl image. She tried with limited success to show her bad girl side in a lot of simlulated sex scenes in the 2003 flop "In The Cut". I think she has more success in the transition here playing real life boxing manager Jackie Kallen.

While the film parallels some of Kallen's activiites, "Against The Ropes" is clearly a Hollyoodized view of the boxing game and its regime. Ryan, as Kallen, finds a nobody in a local gym and turns him into a champion, all the time working against the good old boys network to get venues for her burgeoning champ -- who leaves her at the end to work for her enemy. Fortunately everything works out in the end and everyone is happy. The script at the end notes Kallen's real life achievements.

I think Ryan is much closer to achieving the second dimension of her image here than in that other movie. She dresses great all the time with trashy outfits that show off her curves. She baits men with her figure and uses it to get what she wants -- just like women do in real life. She isn't nearly as tough as Kallen but her character exhibits a sticktoittiveness that demonstrates the resolve of the real life manager.

My wife has recently taken boxing training, not to become a puncher but to keep in good shape. She works out twice a week in a gritty urban gym and hangs out with trainers and boxing managers that think their new kid is a rising star. She enjoyed this flick and saw some of life's realities in the workup to the boxing scenes.

I'd recommend this DVD to anyone that wants to see an entertaining sports management movie or anyone that wants to see Meg Ryan's development as an R-rated actress. You won't see anything as graphic as "Raging Bull" or as poetic as "Requiem for a Heavyweight" herein. But you will see a solidly entertaining movie with a feel good ending.