Against the Ropes is a particularly frustrating specimen of early-2000s cinematic biopic failure, a film that manages to be both insultingly formulaic and profoundly wasteful of its promising subject matter. The picture is guilty of the cardinal sin of the genre: where it should have been ‘based’ on the remarkable life of pioneering boxing manager Jackie Kallen, it settles for being merely ‘inspired by’, a euphemism for a wholesale fictionalisation that prioritises lazy tropes over truth. The result is a film that feels as staged and inauthentic as a fixed fight, a comparison drawn by several critics at the time which remains perfectly apt.
The core failure lies in Cheryl Edwards’s screenplay, which seems pathologically afraid of the actual drama inherent in Kallen’s three-decade career. Instead, it concocts a compressed, cliché-ridden narrative that reduces a complex trailblazer to a collection of ‘plucky underdog’ moments. The script’s cheap quasi-feminism manifests in repetitive scenes of Kallen (Meg Ryan) being condescended to by male promoters and reporters, her victories framed as simple triumphs over sexism rather than explorations of strategic acumen or deep understanding of the sport. This simplistic arc is mirrored in its equally reductive and even cheaper social commentary regarding Luther Shaw (Omar Epps). Shaw is not a portrayal of Kallen’s most famous client, the formidable and complex champion James Toney, but a complete fictional construct—a talented but directionless African-American youth from the Cleveland projects whom Kallen must morally and professionally salvage. This ‘white saviour’ dynamic, however unintentional, hangs uncomfortably over the film, reducing Shaw’s community and struggles to a backdrop for Kallen’s own journey. It is social commentary as set-dressing, devoid of genuine insight.
This creative cowardice cannot be divorced from the film’s context as a vehicle for Meg Ryan. By 2004, Ryan’s stature as “America’s sweetheart” had severely diminished, following a tumultuous private life and the notorious commercial and critical failure of the sexually explicit thriller In the Cut (2003). Against the Ropes transparently represents a dual-pronged career recalibration: an attempt to showcase a more mature, dramatic side while clinging to the populist, slightly humorous template that worked for Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich. Ryan’s performance is an act of sheer will, but it cannot overcome the material’s phoniness. The audience rejection was inevitable. Partly, as with In the Cut, it was because the tough, street-smart Kallen was a universe away from the adorable, rom-com heroines of Sleepless in Seattle or You’ve Got Mail. More fundamentally, the public saw through the artifice. Ryan’s performance, however energetic, feels like an actress playing dress-up in a world of cardboard characters, rather than an embodiment of a real person’s grit.
The fictionalised world she inhabits is indeed utterly phony. The narrative requires a single, uncomplicated antagonist, found in the form of powerful promoter Sam LaRoca (Tony Shalhoub). Shalhoub, a typically reliable character actor, is left with nothing to play but a one-note, a symbol of the corrupt boxing establishment devoid of any motivating nuance. His presence epitomises the script’s lack of ambition—every conflict is externalised and oversimplified. Kallen’s fictionalised life becomes a collection of clichés: the montage of building the fighter’s strength, the obligatory training setbacks, the last-minute crisis before the big fight, the vindication in the ring. It is a paint-by-numbers sports movie plot, mechanically applied without understanding that Kallen’s real story was fascinating precisely because it defied these easy formulas.
The film’s sole redeeming feature is Charles Dutton as veteran trainer Felix Reynolds. Dutton brings a weary, grounded authenticity to his scenes, offering a brief glimpse of the boxing world’s texture that the rest of the film sorely lacks. His presence makes portions of the film watchable, but little more than that. He is the exception that proves the rule of the film’s overall failure.
At the end, Against the Ropes is a forgettable affair. It takes a genuinely groundbreaking figure—a woman who carved a space for herself in the intensely masculine world of boxing management through intelligence and force of personality—and forces her story into a demeaning, generic mould. It is a film that patronises its subject, its supporting characters, and ultimately its audience. It failed as a comeback vehicle for its star, as a sports drama, and as a biography.
RATING: 4/10 (++)
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