I know close to nothing about MMA, so even after watching “Born a Champion” (2021), I still have no idea whether I was watching a based-on-a-true-story sports flick or a movie that was just pretending to be one. I do know “Born a Champion” is a pretty lame title. I also know MMA fans will probably like this film because there’s enough fighting (eventually) and famous MMA people (I think) in it. Otherwise, it’s a patently mediocre story following a well-worn, Rockyesque formula. Ex-Marine, hard life, fighting for his family, fighting because that’s all he knows, predictably bloody hijinks ensue.
Archives for posts with tag: Dennis Quaid
Film noir isn’t all cigarettes, alcohol and funky cinematography. Unfortunately, “D.O.A.” (1988) is. The gimmick here is that Dennis Quaid has been poisoned and before he dies, he must tell the police his version of all the death and destruction that’s taken place over the previous 36 hours. Problem is, he only seems to suffer symptoms when it’s dramatically convenient and walks out of a precinct house with a very long hallway much better than he walks in. (As I write this, I’m suddenly thinking somebody pulled a Keyser Soze on me. But they didn’t. It’s just a mediocre movie.)
The crash of the dot-com bubble in the early 2000s brought an era of lowered expectations that I don’t think we’ve ever fully gotten over. That small-ball sensibility seems to be what drives “In Good Company.” It’s got the architecture of a romantic comedy: middle-aged family man (Dennis Quaid) gets a new, young boss (Topher Grace) who falls for his daughter (Scarlett Johansson). But instead of hijinks, everyone takes turns receiving gut punches followed by small victories. The presumptive happy ending seems more relief than triumph. But that’s where we were in 2004, and now. Just relieved that we’re surviving.
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