Fighting With My Family

Score:  A-

Directed by Stephen Merchant
Starring Florence Pugh, Jack Lowden, Vince Vaughn
Running time: 108 minutes
Rated PG-13

Long Story Short:  Fighting With My Family is a sports drama based on the true story of a family of wrestlers in England.  Led by the creative mind of funnyman Stephen Merchant, the cast, particularly lead Florence Pugh, creates a genuine family you would go to the mat for.  Don't worry if you're neither a wrestling nor a sports film fan - this is just a really well done, entertaining drama, period.  Recommended for all.


In Norwich, England, body slams are the favored gesture of affection for one family of four.  Parents Patrick (Frost) and Julia (Headey) Knight, having emerged from a rough background involving years of jail time, are enthusiastic community wrestling leaders, and actively encourage their children to join them.  While son Zak (Lowden) jumps into the ring from an early age, Saraya (Pugh) is more skeptical, starting much later.  The family dream is to join the professional wrestling league, the WWE, for fame and fortune, and Zak and Saraya finally get to try out as young adults.  Only one gets the opportunity to continue pursuing this dream, though, leading to a hopeful yet bittersweet split in the family.  While those left behind continue to struggle to make ends meet, the chosen one confronts their own ultimate challenge in the most difficult test yet.

Fighting With My Family is anchored by a strong family core, plus a surprising supporting role.  Florence Pugh, an up-and-coming British star whom I had not seen before, plays the lead as Saraya (or Paige, her wrestling name).  She does excellent work, particularly once she's on her own trying to make the WWE.  The quiet younger sister in a family of big wrestling personalities, Pugh shows her character's impressive physical and mental comfort with the sport.  Yet the film emphasizes just how difficult the process is, and Paige is by no means the favorite: she's both physically small and psychologically vulnerable due to both her isolation and the ruthless nature of the competition.  She pulls you in close with her relatable failures - and her reactions to them.  And her connections to her family, particularly her brother, Zak, are genuine and warm.  The brother is also an impressive character, as played by Jack Lowden.  More confident in his role in the family, he is tested by even more trying circumstances left behind at home, and his bitterness and despair - and later, his hope - are palpable.  Rounding out the family are the parents, played by Nick Frost and Lena Headey.  They get showier roles in support, making them a blast to watch, particularly Frost, but the deep love they have for their children is also touching in quieter scenes.  The last notable part is Vince Vaughn's WWE trainer Hutch Morgan.  I wouldn't have thought him capable of real sincerity in a part like this but he surprised me, both berating and encouraging Saraya/Paige in a crucial role in the film.

Fighting With My Family is one of the best sports films I've seen in years, thanks largely to the unorthodox sport and story and its focus on family drama.  The film comes from the British comedic mind of Stephen Merchant (frequent collaborator of Ricky Gervais), who wrote, directed, and produced.  Thus there's plenty of good humor sprinkled throughout, but the tone is really more a standard drama.  It's based on a true story, after all, and while I can't confirm its accuracy, it makes for a wild and intriguing, yet also affecting adventure.  The first part of the film does a great job capturing the sense of place, in a rougher, English neighborhood, while keeping the narrative going at all times.  The ragtag group of kids who train with the family are fun, including even a blind boy (apparently part of the true story), as they bounce along in a broken down van.  The cast does such a great job of inhabiting this family of wrestlers, highlighted by a hilarious dinner scene with the mortified, upperclass parents of Zak's girlfriend.  Later, as the story's tension rises, release occurs through quieter scenes between Saraya and Zak, or Saraya and her parents.  The brighter, Florida-set WWE training scenes offer a nice change of tempo, while still maintaining the overall tone.  You can feel the sweat dripping in the gym scenes, and easy cliches are chucked aside, particularly in Saraya's female colleagues, former models and dancers who have considerable depth and toughness.  Rather than winning games, the challenge here is two-fold: to survive the intense physical conditioning, and then put forth the most charismatic face possible for the crowd to keep them happy (and the wrestlers employed).  There are no surprises in the ending, but the joys and struggles of the journey are more rewarding than the final, crowning moment itself.

***

Fighting With My Family is one of those pleasant surprises I hope to run into each year at the theater. I had never even heard of it until I saw its impressive 92% score on Rotten Tomatoes; given its unique premise and helming by the funny Merchant, I gave it a try.  Typically I'm not a sports movie fan (I much prefer the real thing), and I'm even less interested in wrestling - but this is more a warm, funny drama that happens to deal with wrestling (admittedly, an intriguing sideshow).  My biggest bone to pick with this movie is in its marketing, which features Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson heavily.  He has approximately five minutes of screen time - his presence is a good one, certainly, but basically a cameo.  But never mind that: the actors and characters that are featured are great, and the story is Rock solid, entertaining and resonant.  Appropriate for a broad audience, I highly recommend it.




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