Fighting With My Family
Fighting with My Family succeeds as a crowd-pleasing sports movie, thanks to its sharp wit and sincere apprecation for its working-class characters.
Dwyane " The Rock " Johnson is everywhere these days , and that includes moving-picture show that are n’t actually about him or a character reference he plays . That ’s the causa withFighting with My Family , anyway , but for good reason . The picture is ground on the 2012 documentaryThe Wrestlers : agitate with My Family , which explores the career of WWE wrestler Paige , aka . the young winner of the Divas Championship ( among other accomplishments ) . Johnson bring together forces with actor - filmmaker Stephen Merchant ( co - Jehovah of the BritishOfficeandExtras ) to get a docudrama exalt by Paige ’s material - life experience off the undercoat and running , and together the pair ’s originative sensibility make them a firm match for the subject thing here . push with My Familysucceeds as a crowd - pleasing mutant movie , thanks to its sharp wit and sincere apprecation for its working - class characters .
Florence Pugh stars inFighting with My Familyas Saraya Knight , a young English woman who comes from a family of little - meter professional wrestler , including her brother Zak ( Jack Lowden ) - who also teach grappling to local kids in Norwich - father Ricky ( Nick Frost ) , and female parent Julia ( Lena Headey ) . Saraya and Zak have both dreamed of joining the WWE since they were pre - stripling , which is why the brace are beside themselves when they ’re call for to strain - out for the WWE ’s NXT development branch by its coach , Hutch Morgan ( Vince Vaughn ) . However , affair do n’t go as planned and only Saraya ends up being enroll by the organization .
Upon making her way to the U.S. , Saraya - who chooses " Paige " as her novel ring name - struggles to keep up with the requirement of her preparation and finds her gruff Norwich ways of doing thing put her at odds with the other distaff grappler . Meanwhile , back at home , Zak wallows in ego - pathos and begins to isolate himself from his grapple student , love unity , and particularly Saraya , which only make life hard for his jr. baby . In time , though , the pair come to gain : if they ’re go to overcome these newfangled obstacle , they ’ll have to contend alongside their family , in all the descriptor that it adopt .
Fighting with My Family , which Merchant both write and directed , is a pretty by the numbers fun picture overall , from its formulaic news report beats to the inevitable montage of Paige training heavily and meliorate as an jock . It ’s the movie ’s heartfelt portrayal of its characters that elevates the proceedings into something more memorable than this would suggest . The plastic film takes the time to really develop the members of Paige ’s crime syndicate , yet still find way for humor without seeming like it ’s search down on the English working - class and their ways of living . Merchant ’s script is also empathetic in the way it handles the initial tensions between Paige and the other women of the NXT , making the eventual reward to that plot thread all the more satisfying and well - earned . It may not extend too many surprise on the way to its predictable outcome but , like a good WWE showdown , it ’s the execution that really makesFighting with My Familya winner .
More than that , fight with My Familyworks because - like its title suggest - it ’s a cinema about the theme of family and what it think , as much ( if not more ) than it is a level about wrestle . It ’s one of the uncommon mainstream movies that really digs deeply into a brother - sister relationship , yet at the same time find room to examine themes about friendship between women and the moral force between tike and their parents ( both literal and more nonliteral ) . Much like The Rock himself , Fighting with My Familyfinds a way to serve up inspirational lessons about life and how you should treat the people who ’ve either helped you in the past or are there for you now , without come off as being corny or contrived . merchandiser further adopt that scrappy spirit with his direction and shoots the cinema in a manner that ’s more urbane than an real documentary , yet has a similarly personal expression and feeling .
Of course , it helps that the cast feels authentic in their roles across the display panel . Pugh , in peculiar , is already an up and comer thanks to her body of work on films likeLady Macbeth , and her performance as Paige should only keep her star rising on the up and up . Fighting with My Familymay split its focus between Paige and Zac , but the former is very much the protagonist and it ’s fun to watch her larn to embrace her workings - course radical and vulgar manner and make it work for her both in and outside the hand-to-hand struggle ring . The motion picture also takes the time to research Zac ’s insecurity about his unsuccessful person to make it into the WWE and the complexities of why Paige ’s success is so unmanageable for him to swallow , in a way that offer perceptiveness into both his and his sis ’s journeying . As a result , their conflict is far more interesting than if Zac had merely been jealous of his sibling .
The supporting ensemble are equally up to here , set forth with Frost and Leadey as Paige and Zac ’s parent . Both histrion know how to make characters with freakish manners and personalities feel veridical , and that power certainly facilitate them inFighting with My Family . Vaughn , meanwhile , is noticeably buttoned down in his performance as Hutch , even in the scenes where he put his motor - lip comedy skills to use to codswallop - talk Paige and the sleep of the NXT recruits . As for Johnson : he only appear in a few prospect ( two of which are in the film ’s preview ) , but get to have some merriment by playing himself and thumb on his literal - world persona . He may be featured on the poster , but The Rock knows this is n’t his movie and does n’t go overboard try out to hog the spot in the moments that he does share with Pugh .
In the goal , the cast and creatives are what makeFighting with My Familyboth best than the medium formulaic fun movie and one of the unspoiled film to boast The Rock in any capacity in the preceding class . It may be old - fashioned in some ways , but the movie just goes to show that an over - used recipe can still cultivate marvel when you have the right component . While it ’s not really a film that demand to be seen on a big blind because of its workmanship , it ’s nevertheless the sort of feel - good motion-picture show that ’s all the well-heeled to relish when you ’re check it with an enthusiastic audience . Even those who ’ve never seen a wrestling competition or know fiddling to nothing about the WWE may find themselves cheering Paige on to go the length here .
TRAILER
Fighting with My Familyis now playing in U.S. field nationwide . It is 107 minutes long and is rated PG-13 for crude and intimate material , language throughout , some wildness and drug content .
Written and mastermind by Stephen Merchant , fight with My Family is a Comedy and Drama Sports - based motion picture based on a honest story . Starring Florence Pugh , Dwayne Johnson , Lena Headey , and Nick Frost , the series chronicles the career of Saraya Jade Bevis as she rises through the ranks of the WWE to become iconic woman ’s grappler , Paige .
Written and directed by Stephen Merchant, Fighting with My Family is a Comedy and Drama Sports-based film based on a true story. Starring Florence Pugh, Dwayne Johnson, Lena Headey, and Nick Frost, the series chronicles the career of Saraya Jade Bevis as she rises through the ranks of the WWE to become iconic women’s wrestler, Paige.
