| Girlfight |
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| Rating: Fair Distributor: Screen Gems Running Length: 1 hour, 50 minutes Release Date: September 29th, 2000 (limited) Genre: Drama MPAA Rating: R Director: Karyn Kusama Cast: Michelle Rodriguez, Jaime Tirelli, Paul Calderon, Santiago Douglas, and Elisa Bocanegra. |
| Plot: Diana Guzman (Michelle Rodriguez) is constantly getting in fights in high school. She has few friends, and many enemies. Her father is difficult, but her brother is a sensitive young man involved in art. She decides to aim her turbulent emotions at a boxing career. She hires her brother's trainer (Jaime Tirelli), and begins to train hard with him. Her brother never really wanted to be a boxer, his dad merely forced him to be one. He eventually gives it up to help Diana get enough money to train. She develops a relationship with another boxer who seems like a nice enough guy. He however might have another girl he is interested in. He is not so sure he wants her to be a boxer, but understands she has a will of her own. She hopes her will and determination will be enough. |
| Critique: Girlfight has a lot of flaws, but the part that makes the film so hard to watch and so unpleasant is the hateful young woman protaganist. The script however seems to be leaning to her being a basically good person. Otherwise, the resolution would not be possible. I'm not sure why Kusama made such an unattractive film. From start to finish it is obvious this will not be an enjoyable film experience, and between all the hate filled young people involved in the plot you would wonder who the hell we are supposed to root for. It's obvious we are asked to root for Diana, but how can we after she alienates everyone close to her. She has no redeeming qualities. I'm sure there are troubled teens like her, but I do not want to spend my spare time watching them in their realm. Kusama never makes a point either. She just kind of points the film into the direction of sports cliches, and then rams it into a wall again and again. In all my efforts to like this film, I could not. Despite a few redeeming values like an appealing score, and some solid acting I cannot help calling this film an overrated indie. The dialogue and interactions between characters are stale and uninvolving. The script is distant, and the direction is murky. Even in its moments of intimacy we can't get a breath of fresh air from the snotty Diana. I even hoped she'd somehow learn a few lessons, but she only wins boxing matches. Which brings me to another point; for a film about personal growth there was too many boxing scenes. If you want to see a better film about gender bending in sports see Billy Elliot. In the end there is not even really a conflict. The slight cliched remarks about sexism struggle to surface between dumbed down romantics. Girlfight is a pointless bout of weak dialogue and boring action sequences. It shows that man's fault of not being able to control his rage is also shared in some women. Is that good? The movie seems to be under that impression. Don't ask. review by supernothingman |