Resurrecting the Champ reminded me of a Meg Ryan movie called Against the Ropes. Not because they’re both, to some extent, about boxing. That’s incidental. It’s because I completely forgot about Against the Ropes by the time its end credits began to roll, and I never thought about it again until the end credits of Resurrecting the Champ, at which point I was already forgetting that movie.
There’s nothing especially awful about either of these films. They just have an overabundance of sentimentality, predictable storylines, and themes so simple or unoriginal, you find yourself asking: Is this topic worth a whole movie?
Resurrecting the Champ begins with a voice-over from a sports reporter named Erik (Hartnett), who kicks things off by using boxing as an analogy for writing. So when this writer eventually stumbles upon a homeless man who claims to be a former boxing champion, it’s clear that the stories of Erik and Champ (Jackson) will have a number of parallels. And since Erik is a man who lies to friends, family and co-workers to make them think he’s more important and talented than he is, it should come as no surprise that Champ is doing the same thing.
Of course, the truth doesn’t come out until Erik’s article has made him into a hot commodity, with offers of money, TV gigs and sex coming from every direction. So should Erik enjoy the newfound fame that has sprung from his lies, or should he tell the truth?
Really? That’s it? Another story about integrity? Really? Aren’t we done with that topic? We’ve already seen films about journalistic integrity—better films, like Shattered Glass, which successfully had us disapproving of the dishonest scribe but still sympathizing enough to squirm with him as his lies began to fail him. Resurrecting the Champ doesn’t do any of that. Hartnett is too bland to make us feel one way or the other about him.
Jackson gives us a decent performance as the stray dog who’s been kicked about one too many times, leaving him in a state where he wags his tail and cowers simultaneously. But the role only stands out because this is the first time in years that Jackson has relinquished his bad-motherf--ker persona long enough to give us a real performance. Ultimately, like the film, the performance will probably be forgotten—until the next utterly unmemorable movie reminds me of it.
Resurrecting the Champ
**
Samuel L. Jackson, Josh Hartnett, Kathryn Morris
Directed by Rod Lurie
Rated PG-13
Opens Friday