![]() ![]() I laughed out loud, sometimes at business that was going on in the background. Molière did it better in "Tartuffe" but this is no slouch. He shakes his head twice and nods on the third try, and she goes down on him while Jackson makes his pitch. ![]() After a set, back in his crowded dressing room, his assistants usher groupies in one at a time for his appraisal. Being a rock star isn't as bad as it might be. The white guy is Peter Berg, Golden Gloves champ from some years ago who has gone on to a career in heavy metal in Cleveland without ever having fought professionally. The solution? Find some white guy who doesn't have a chance and match them up in Las Vegas. Jackson, as a loud and beturbaned fakir, living in a gilded palace and surrounded by double-D trophies, decides that revenue is falling because nobody wants to pay to see two black guys beating each other up in the ring. "I get my brains beat out and what I got for it? Two Rolls Royces!" "Well, that ain't bad." "But you got EIGHT!" It's a boxing satire in which opportunistic promoter Samuel L. Some of the lines go something like this. Money corrupts and absolute money corrupts absolutely. Very funny film and great acting performances. Even if you are not a boxing fan, you will enjoy it. If you are a boxing fan, you will love this film, because it is real. However, as we see the hype done by these snake oil salesmen, we start to believe that Berg's character actually has a chance to win. Here you have an unqualified contender, that has no prayer of beating the champ. Moreover, we as viewers fall into the same trap that boxing fans do. Fights are fixed, promotions are staged and very rarely do you have the best fighting the best. ![]() Berg plays the "Great White Hope." The beauty of this film is the comedic way that it shows the real life corruption in boxing today. Surely many white Americans will pay to see one of their own knock down the overly cocky, black champ. What is the one thing you need to get people in the arena to watch? Well, a white challenger of course, experience not necessary. So, Jackson goes about creating a contender for the champ. No one wants to pay to see the guy, because there are no quality fighters out there to challenge him. Jackson plays a "Don King" type guy that is stuck with the problem of having a champ that might be too good. However, this film is a very funny film that also has a rather keen insight into the current state of boxing. I have to admit that when I rented this movie, I was expecting a dumb comedy that would fail to show the reality of boxing. ![]()
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