[.ca] Against the Ropes

Raging Baloney:
"Against the Ropes" is not merely the title of Meg Ryan's latest movie; that phrase must also describe how she feels these days, as she tries in vain to persuade her fanbase that she's more than just a cuddly blonde romantic comedy lead. Although she bared her body and her soul in director Jane Campion's seamy "In the Cut," audiences weren't interested, and it doesn't look likely that "Ropes" -- opening nearly a full year after it was scheduled to premiere -- will give anyone much to cheer about. A heavy-duty fictionalization of the life story of Jackie Kallen, a former sportswriter and public relations specialist who hit it big as a boxing promoter, "Ropes" squanders rich source material, opting for cliches and stock situations instead. Worse still, screenwriter Cheryl Edwards has cooked up some real humdingers for Ryan's Jackie to deliver, such as "The world is not an oyster: It's a smelly tank, full of dirty water and sharks. It is not easy to swim." That Ryan manages to get past that line without bringing down the house is a credit to her skill, and she does have a few effective moments as Jackie, who speaks in a rough-edged voice and maneuvers through stadiums and sports bars with a self-satisfied swagger in her step. "Ropes" also offers conclusive proof that whatever Ryan is paying her personal trainer is money well-spent. She looks sleek and shapely in a series of clingy, peek-a-boo outfits designed to highlight her legs, her figure and her cleavage. Unfortunately, everything else in "Ropes" is considerably less impressive, from Omar Epps' wake-me-when-it's-over performance as Luther Shaw, the boxer Jackie pushes into the ring, to the unconvincingly conveyed atmosphere of downtown Cleveland, which features a slew of hard-boiled mugs who might have slithered out of "Guys and Dolls," as well as a few crack-crazed derelicts whose language and behavior remains within the boundaries of the PG-13 rating. Forget "Raging Bull" -- this is Raging Baloney. The movie's only real point of interest -- besides Ryan's imaginative wardrobe -- is its willingness to let Jackie look like an attention-starved fool when she finally begins to make a name for herself. Caught up in the fame game, she struts in front of HBO's cameras in a backless black leather gown and does her best to prove to everybody that she's her own biggest fan. The rest of "Ropes" is as clueless about what Rubin "Hurricane" Carter once called "the sweetest sport" as that old Barbra Streisand/Ryan O'Neal farce "The Main Event." And at least in that one, you eventually got to hear Barbra belt out the oh-so-disco theme song ("Extra! Extra! I'm in lo-ooo-ve!"); "Against the Ropes" offers no such payoff in its final round.

RIveting and inspirational:
Grab this DVD as quickly as you can. Here's why: 1. It tells the true story of a woman, Jackie Kallen, who broke into the male-dominated boxing world. Very inspirational and Meg Ryan's performance is strong and solid. 2. There's an interview with the real Jackie Kallen and a behind the scenes look at how and why the movie was made. 3. The movie is gripping to watch and Kallen isn't portrayed as a stereotype or saint but as a very real (and flawed) person. In short, this isn't a "fluffy" movie but one that tries to be relatively honest (by Hollywood standards). Very riveting, great fight scenes, strong perfromances - what more is there to say?

Poor Meg:
What happened? She looks like a dessicated scarecrow in this movie. I guess she's supposed to look tarty but it just looked appalling on her. Did this thing go straight to video? I certainly hope so for her sake. If you watch it, enjoy the flowered pants that make her thighs look 4 feet across.

A lot better than expected!:
Okay, I heard that this movie wasn't so great, and like other Meg Ryan fans, I love to watch her in movies like "Sleepless In Seattle" and "You've Got Mail", but I think I was just really pleasantly surprised by this movie. Meg Ryan plays Jackie Kallen, a woman who's been around the sport of boxing all of her life. And only until years later after being pushed around and stepped all over, Jackie Kallen began her journey to gain the respect of the other men in the business. See, the top-dogs of boxing, the managers and all, say it's a "man's world", but Jackie Kallen proves otherwise, as she hires Luther: a strong fighter, but weak minded man from the projects. Jackie Kallen takes Luther in to be trained by a very good friend of hers, and slowly but surely, Luther begins to become a better boxer and Jackie will soon find herself absorbing all of the attention they're about to get and will be blind to see the fact that it's her fighter who's now being walked all over. You'll just have to see how things turn out. And guess what? It may not be a romantic comedy, but there were moments throughout this movie that had me crying! I was very surprised at everyones' performances. I think the acting was really good, and that this movie had very few flaws. I love Meg Ryan as an actress, and since I've liked every other movie she's in, I figured I'd give this one a shot. I'm glad I did, 'cause I plan on adding this onto my DVD collection! This movie proves that Meg Ryan is capable of pulling off any role. She doesn't have to be "America's Sweetheart", but really, I don't care. I'll watch any movie with her in it, because she is so good of an actress.