Linkshoch Wonderful Movie

SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Robert J. Maxwell Money corrupts and absolute money corrupts absolutely. Some of the lines go something like this. "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. 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. The solution? Find some white guy who doesn't have a chance and match them up in Las Vegas.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. Being a rock star isn't as bad as it might be. After a set, back in his crowded dressing room, his assistants usher groupies in one at a time for his appraisal. He shakes his head twice and nods on the third try, and she goes down on him while Jackson makes his pitch.It's pretty amusing. Flagrant hypocrisy often is. Molière did it better in "Tartuffe" but this is no slouch. I laughed out loud, sometimes at business that was going on in the background. The non-Irish Berg enters the ring wearing a kilt, accompanied by "Danny Boy" on the pipes and a couple of dwarfs dressed as leprechauns. He's a Buddhist who is only fighting to relieve the "homeless situation in America and the United States as well." There are a lot of B stories and some of them are lost in the shuffle. Jon Lovitz disappears half way through. Some of the pauses for laughter are too long, suggesting the movie isn't quite as funny as its makers thought it might be. And it does go over the top with aimless slapstick at times.Yet it IS funny from time to time and if you can put up with a lot of noise and rushing around it's worth catching. None of the performances can be faulted.

Sammy_Sam_Sam Reading through the reviews on here, I can only assume that the humour in this film was wasted on a lot of people. Boxing is one of the few sports that translates well into the movies, with there being a decent number of great films based around the sport. This is slightly different to most however, as it takes a very humorous, cynical approach. There are so many memorable scenes and lines in the movie, right from the opening scene it's spot-on and I really can't work out where this criticism of the direction stems from! The fight scenes are over quickly and are nothing like the real thing - obviously - it's a comedy, not a documentary (sigh).Like I said, I can only assume that the biting satire has been wasted on some viewers who were clearly expecting something different from the film. Each to their own, the film seems to have missed it's audience, but a 5 or 6 out of ten it certainly isn't! For me, it's definitely one of the better comedies out there. It's sharp, funny and well worth watching. 8 out of 10.

ccthemovieman-1 This is ridiculously profane film with a lot of guys who like to say mother-f-this, mother-f- that, over and over. Some of that is tolerable but this is way over the line. Along with that is a nasty, angry tone to the film. It's supposed to be a comedy, but I found few laughs.I did enjoy the digs at the pro boxing scene these days, which is and has been in a sorry state for the last several decades. There's a special dig at promoters, and we all know Don King was the motivation for Laurence Fishburne's role here.I couldn't finish the film, to be frank. There are too many other good movies to waste time watching - and listening - to this. It's a shame, because this film certainly had a good cast.

jotix100 Reginald Hudlin's "The Great White Hype" is a satire about what's wrong in boxing. The sport has had its share of bad luck, as it seems to attract a criminal element to what should be a competition between two men in the ring. The film starts with a promise to make justice to the material that Ron Shelton, one of the best writers/directors that has done his share about sports, co-wrote, but it feels as though something is missing, especially the anti-climactic conclusion.The best thing in the film is Samuel L. Jackson, an immensely talented actor who feels right at home portraying these low lives that only he can give them life and even make them likable. We wouldn't miss a movie in which this actor play because he always delivers, as is the case with his cunning character, the Reverend Fred Sultan. He is a boxing promoter who likes to cheat on his boxers, which is what he does to the actual champion, James, the Grim Reaper, Roper. Instead of paying him the money he owes him, he buys him another Rolls Royce.Reverend Sultan comes up with a great idea for his protégé Roper. He has heard the way the champ was defeated in his early years by Terry Conklin, a man that now has a career as a singer. Promising Terry a lot of money if he agrees, Sultan cons him into fighting Roper again and he creates a hype around the fight, the main attraction being, a black boxer, who is a champion, fighting an unknown white man. The racial implications play into the minds of the fans.Everything leading up to the match plays well. The only problem is the figure of Mitchell Kane, a sports commentator, who has been critical of the sleazy Reverend. Sultan takes care of that bringing him on board his team. On the other hand, loyal Sol, who has been with the Reverend for a while, gets fired.Damon Wayans has some good opportunities to show what a talented actor he really is. He knows he can defeat Terry Conklin. In the process of waiting for the fight he begins eating and puts on weight. Others in the film are, Jamie Foxx, who has a small, but effective role as the manager of another black boxer who wants to fight Roper. Peter Berg is clearly out of his league in the film as Terry Conklin a man who wants to eradicate the homelessness in America with the ten million dollars he has been promised. Jeff Goldblum, a good actor, is not convincing as Mitchell Kane. The beautiful Salli Richardson appears as Bambi, an intelligent young woman who clearly understands what's going on.