Cast of Characters:
Billy "The Kid" McDonnen - Robert De Niro
Henry "Razor" Sharp - Sylvester Stallone
Dante Slate, Jr. - Kevin Hart
Lightning - Alan Arkin
Sally Rose - Kim Basinger
B.J. - Jon Bernthal
Director - Peter Segal
Screenplay - Doug Ellin, Tim Kelleher & Rodney Rothman
Rated PG-13 for sports action violence, sexual content and language
Billy "The Kid" McDonnen - Robert De Niro
Henry "Razor" Sharp - Sylvester Stallone
Dante Slate, Jr. - Kevin Hart
Lightning - Alan Arkin
Sally Rose - Kim Basinger
B.J. - Jon Bernthal
Director - Peter Segal
Screenplay - Doug Ellin, Tim Kelleher & Rodney Rothman
Rated PG-13 for sports action violence, sexual content and language
It's Rocky vs. Raging Bull! Academy Award winner Robert De Niro and Academy Award nominee Sylvester Stallone finally face off in Grudge Match.
Back in their heyday, Billy "The Kid" McDonnen (Robert De Niro) and Henry "Razor" Sharp (Sylvester Stallone) were bitter boxing rivals that each won a head to head match against each other. Although a tie-breaking grudge match was planned, Razor stunned the boxing world by announcing an early retirement from pro boxing.
Thirty years later, both McDonnen and Sharp have moved on from the sport. McDonnen is running a bar and car dealership and Sharp, having gone into debt, has gone back to working at the local steel mill. After an attempt by their late manager's son Dante Slate, Jr. (Kevin Hart) to get the two to participate in the making of a video game leads to a fight between Razor and Kid, the demand to reunite these two boxers to settle the score after all those years rises.
Just like the pairing of Stallone and Schwarzenegger earlier this fall was a marketer's wet dream, you can imagine how they must've jumped at the chance to promote a "Rocky" fights "Raging Bull" film. There's no question that both Stallone and De Niro had their career defining and most critically acclaimed moments (De Niro obviously has had much more success though) as Rocky Balboa and Jake LaMotta respectively. It earned Stallone two Oscar nominations (Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay) and De Niro his second Oscar win, his first for Best Actor. That said, I wasn't expecting this to be as good as either movie. Hell, no, not even close. Not even in the same ballpark, league, or galaxy for that matter. This movie is essentially one 100 minute long wink at the audience while three Oscar winners and a nominee dance their way to the bank. That's all. However, despite going in with low expectations, I gotta say I didn't have a bad time with this. I laughed. They mostly came from Alan Arkin (who plays cranky old bastard better than anyone else these days) and Kevin Hart, but I laughed anyway. It's highly predictable and a two year toddler could connect the dots between every "De Niro and Stallone are old", "Kevin Hart is short" joke and setup from beginning to end. We get the long, lost son by Shane from Walking Dead who reconnects with De Niro and somehow makes him a better man. We get the situation were the kid gains enough trust with his reconnected father and then the father does something stupid to screw it all up, but then within the next three scenes they have that touching moment where we get the "I know I wasn't there for you, but... I'm sorry." speech. Basinger shows up as the obligatory love interest that's the driving force of rivalry and hatred between the two men, and the climatic fight is a bit corny and far fetched. Oh, and of course, you know both De Niro and Stallone are gonna have their poke fun at their legendary roles moment (to those that have seen either Rocky or Raging Bull, you'll know it when you see it). If you were expecting anything more than that, though, you'll be disappointed. Very disappointed. Speaking of Basinger. She hasn't done anything noteworthy in years, and it unfortunately shows here. I was never a huge fan of hers, but I never thought of her as being a bad actress and she was certainly great in L.A. Confidential (Where she won her only Oscar for Best Supporting Actress). She's fairly stale and wooden here. Once again, it's not like I was hoping for Oscar gold, but everyone else does a serviceable job phoning it in, so she sticks out.
Director Peter Segal has made a few comedy gems before, but has mostly been hit or miss with me and was never on a comedy directing level as say Harold Ramis, Mel Brooks or Judd Apatow. With Grudge Match, he makes a sporadically funny comedy that aims to be more comedy with a heart than all-out goofy and winds up being okay, which is a lot more than I was expecting to say. If you plan on watching this, leave your critic's brain at the door and just take this for what it is - two actors from two of the most iconic and critically acclaimed boxing movies ever having fun and making a lot of money doing so. I give Grudge Match a C (★★½).
Just like the pairing of Stallone and Schwarzenegger earlier this fall was a marketer's wet dream, you can imagine how they must've jumped at the chance to promote a "Rocky" fights "Raging Bull" film. There's no question that both Stallone and De Niro had their career defining and most critically acclaimed moments (De Niro obviously has had much more success though) as Rocky Balboa and Jake LaMotta respectively. It earned Stallone two Oscar nominations (Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay) and De Niro his second Oscar win, his first for Best Actor. That said, I wasn't expecting this to be as good as either movie. Hell, no, not even close. Not even in the same ballpark, league, or galaxy for that matter. This movie is essentially one 100 minute long wink at the audience while three Oscar winners and a nominee dance their way to the bank. That's all. However, despite going in with low expectations, I gotta say I didn't have a bad time with this. I laughed. They mostly came from Alan Arkin (who plays cranky old bastard better than anyone else these days) and Kevin Hart, but I laughed anyway. It's highly predictable and a two year toddler could connect the dots between every "De Niro and Stallone are old", "Kevin Hart is short" joke and setup from beginning to end. We get the long, lost son by Shane from Walking Dead who reconnects with De Niro and somehow makes him a better man. We get the situation were the kid gains enough trust with his reconnected father and then the father does something stupid to screw it all up, but then within the next three scenes they have that touching moment where we get the "I know I wasn't there for you, but... I'm sorry." speech. Basinger shows up as the obligatory love interest that's the driving force of rivalry and hatred between the two men, and the climatic fight is a bit corny and far fetched. Oh, and of course, you know both De Niro and Stallone are gonna have their poke fun at their legendary roles moment (to those that have seen either Rocky or Raging Bull, you'll know it when you see it). If you were expecting anything more than that, though, you'll be disappointed. Very disappointed. Speaking of Basinger. She hasn't done anything noteworthy in years, and it unfortunately shows here. I was never a huge fan of hers, but I never thought of her as being a bad actress and she was certainly great in L.A. Confidential (Where she won her only Oscar for Best Supporting Actress). She's fairly stale and wooden here. Once again, it's not like I was hoping for Oscar gold, but everyone else does a serviceable job phoning it in, so she sticks out.
Director Peter Segal has made a few comedy gems before, but has mostly been hit or miss with me and was never on a comedy directing level as say Harold Ramis, Mel Brooks or Judd Apatow. With Grudge Match, he makes a sporadically funny comedy that aims to be more comedy with a heart than all-out goofy and winds up being okay, which is a lot more than I was expecting to say. If you plan on watching this, leave your critic's brain at the door and just take this for what it is - two actors from two of the most iconic and critically acclaimed boxing movies ever having fun and making a lot of money doing so. I give Grudge Match a C (★★½).
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