I went to see this with my mother the other night and totally expected it to be a run of the mill underdog story. I found out that it was. There's nothing special about this film. No different that The Mighty Ducks or the Big Green or any other sports underdog story. It just looks better and had two A-list actors. Problem is, it's these kinds of films that get Oscars all the time, while more deserving movies are left out. I think a movie should earn an Oscar "accidentally", but Cinderella Man and others were created with the intention of earning Oscar and a certain quantity of these films are manufactured every year to be Oscar nominees in teh same way there's a certain amount created to be summer blockbusters. This keeps better, but smaller budget or independent films from catching the eye of the eye of the academy. For Example, City of God should have won in every category it was in last year, but those mass produced O-films beat it out. It's not fair. Cinderella Man sucks, but it's gonna win a few Oscars.
[Edited 6/21/05 18:37pm]

You've seen one Ron Howard "inspirational" flick, you've seen 'em all. Totally zzzzz.

ugh! i hate ron howard´s films! they are totally mediocre

Wow, I can't believe I never thought of it, but all his movies are the same.

I really LOVED this movie!!! I thought it was WAY better than The mother fucking mighty ducks!!!!

Maybe it's because I really love boxing, maybe it's because I love movies that are true stories, maybe it's because I'm from Jersey...but DAMN the whole place was cheering at the end of the film.

Ron Howard may not be the best director, but give some credit where credit is due!

I can't wait to see Raging Bull now.