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| Review by Clay N Ferno |
Somehow, Jake “Raging Bull” LaMotta and Rocky Balboa are pitted against each other in a fight to end a 30 year rivalry while both are in their golden years.
Grudge Match is directed by Peter Segal and surprises audiences with funny performances by DeNiro and Stallone alongside Kevin Hart, Alan Arkin and Kim Basinger. This Christmas release is funnier and classier than the initial pitch sounds, with family moments and longtime rivalries being at the center of the tension in the film.
An ersatz sequel to Rocky Balboa (2006), this comedy starts with a theme of that movie.
Dante Slate, Jr. (Kevin Hart) is the son of late 70’s boxing promoter Dante Slate, and he approaches Henry ‘Razor’ Sharp to provide motion capture for a new boxing game.
Also appearing in the game, Billy ‘The Kid’ McDonnen (DeNiro). The appeal of extra money convinces Razor to join in—as long as his rival The Kid is not at the studio.
Something happened in the past that is unforgivable, and the 30 year grudge weighs on both of the older gentlemen.
We flash over to a bar owned by ‘The Kid’, where Billy is running a comedy act with help from Jabby The Puppet. This Raging Bull reference could be lost on a younger audience, whereas the Philadelphia steel mill and working class settings of Stallone’s backdrop are very familiar to fans indeed. Razor is making art out of metal scraps and welding in his spare time, The Kid is sipping scotch, womanizing, dealing used cars and running a several successful businesses.
Henry (Stallone) is laid off of his job and it is revealed at least part of the conflict is that years ago, Billy The Kid stole away with Kim Basinger’s Sally and got her pregnant. Stallone’s character takes this to heart and becomes reclusive, living below his means and potential below a bridge on the edge of town.
The trailer reveals one of the funnier moments in the movie, a drag out fight in Green Man motion capture suits between the two boxers (If you’ll remember, Rocky Balboa also featured a video game). Promoter Dante Slate, Jr. promised the two men wouldn’t be in the same studio at once, but The Kid decided to show up early. A video of the two boxers wrecking the motion capture studio with a fracas goes viral on YouTube.
Of course, this prompts some convincing on Slate’s part to do right by his father’s legacy and get the two in the ring together. Everyone thinks it is a joke — until the press conference!
After the announcement, Billy (DeNiro)’s son B.J. (Jon Bernthal, Mob City, Walking Dead) by way of Sally (Basinger) shows up at the ring to help train, but The Kid has other plans. After resolving some issues over The Kid’s breakfast of scotch and pancakes, the two reluctantly train together and attempt to patch up abandonment issues, but can it last?
Razor’s trainer Louis ‘Lightning’ Conlon is played by 79 year old Alan Arkin. The senior’s role, played for comedy with hearing aid jokes and the ‘cranky old man can’t get along with staff at the nursing home’ trope wears you out after a while, but his performance does add to the movie as Stallone’s straight man/cutman.
Burgess Meredith’s Mickey in the original series was a badass retired boxer and crusty old man, whereas Arkin plays the trainer as a genuine grandpa, obsessed with Dancing with The Stars (though he still makes Razor drink a pint of raw eggs)!
Training is of course illustrated by a series of montages (complete with pulling a tractor trailer in a junkyard), but also publicity stunts employing the two boxers to get the word out and sell tickets to the event that Philadelphia has been waiting for. There’s a skydiving scene and also the two boxers take on UFC/MMA fighter Chael Sonnen in a debate about the evolution of the two sports and the old guys get to prove a point to their fans.
The love triangle resolves itself by Sally and Razor getting together after 30 years before the fight.
Our old man Arkin breaks himself out of his Lark to be the corner man for Razor’s fight. B.J. and his young son support The Kid in his corner for the final bout. HBO Boxing announcers are ringside as well as genuine boxing judges. Fans of boxing movies will be happy with the way the fight was shot.
Grudge Match is a fun boxing movie with classic actors, perfect for the entire family this holiday season.
Segal made this movie by playing with pop culture references but also great relationships between all of the characters. As shaky as the initial concept might seem to some, they really pulled it off. Recommended for all
