Cinderella Man

Herald rating: * * * *

There are many times early on in this dramatisation of the heroic life of Depression-era boxer James Braddock when you know you are stuck in a Ron Howard movie.

It's in the familiar old-fashioned softness of tone; how his depiction of early 1930s America feels like a movie rendering of the period rather than capturing its atmosphere; the overbearing reminders this is the Great Depression via handily placed newspaper headlines screaming unemployment figures or ironic cheer-up ditties on the wireless.

For much of its first hour or so it can feel like Howard is well on his way to adding to his sizeable stack of bland but well-intentioned films. And that this one is going to be just as free of edge or real character.

But as Crowe's Braddock hits rock bottom - his boxing career in tatters, his once-comfortable family living in a freezing basement after the stock market crash wiped out his savings - Cinderella Man starts showing some grit.

And that's when the film begins its compelling momentum as Braddock gets on the comeback trail, which carries you all the way to the end of its thrilling 15-round finale.

That Cinderella Man succeeds despite its initial soft-headedness is down to Crowe's performance. He makes a convincing slugger in the ring and his boxing scenes do pack a punch, without quite outdoing the likes of Raging Bull.

But Crowe makes the incredibly virtuous Braddock believable, his underplayed restraint pulling off many a scene that might otherwise have risked the whole being counted out for excessive use of schmaltz.

That's whether he's going literally cap in hand to a lounge full of boxing promoters so his kids can eat, or, when having won a few fights, he takes his dole money back to the Social Security office.

No doubt there are massed violins accompanying these scenes, but the only thing you remember is the bundle of emotions that Crowe's face so brilliantly conveys.

As Joe Gould, Braddock's motormouth manager and trainer, Giamatti puts in yet another scene-stealing performance which should have his name on another Oscar nomination.

As Mae Braddock, his wife who has long refused to see her husband take a punch, Zellweger unfortunately comes on as part Betty Boop, her character suffering the most from Howard's folksy sensibility.

She's pretty much out of the picture as Braddock faces his possible doom in the final act.

At Madison Square Garden in 1935 he's up against playboy pugilist Max Baer (Craig Bierko), the world heavyweight champ who has already killed two previous opponents.

Bierko's is another memorable performance in a film whose actors lift the material from the mundane.

Without them, Cinderella Man is just another Ron Howard movie about another American hero.

CAST: Russell Crowe, Paul Giamatti, Renee Zellweger
DIRECTOR: Ron Howard
RATING: M (medium level violence)
RUNNING TIME: 144 mins
SCREENING: Village, Hoyts, Berkeley cinemas, from Thursday