Fighting with My Family

“Paige, I myself have come from a wrestling family too. I know exactly what it means to you. But don't worry about being the next me. Be the first you.”

Filmology Rating: 3 out of 4

Fighting with My Family from producer Dwayne Johnson comes a true story about wrestling. Trust me on this, keep reading even if you aren’t interested in wrestling.

This is the true story about Paige, a well known WWE Wrestler today, but in this film, she's a nobody. She comes from a small town and her entire family is obsessed with wrestling, most notably her brother who both try out for the WWE. This is her Rocky story. And I'm a sucker for these.

I actually did see a trailer for this a while ago and I completely forgot about it and had little interest to see it. But here I am. I really enjoyed it. Now this film has a similar aspect to How To Train Your Dragon where I know how it will end, so the film must make me love the journey to that point. And this film really did that. It's difficult for a film to hold my attention and keep it there because most films are generic trash. And this film held me the entire runtime.

This is a comedy/drama. And all the drama is great. There is a brother and sister dynamic that felt so real and I latched onto that. This entire film just feels like real events captured on camera. This is also a comedy and I only laughed four times (the rule for comedies is six laughs).The film did try a lot at comedy and I only seemed to laugh when Nick Frost was doing something because he is an actual comedy actor. Otherwise, I found scenes with someone like, The Rock, almost cringy and out of place because it seemed like everyone was acting circles around him. He is still a charming presence for all of the five minutes of screen time he had.

But at the core, the performances were all great. And they really make the script come to life which was written very well. Jack Lowden plays Paige's brother and I swear to God, he is related to Simon Pegg. And with Nick Frost in this, it was impossible to ignore. The supporting characters are all given depth and understanding and it was almost refreshing.

This film has a big heart at the center that doesn't focus too much on "Oh look, there's The Rock or another famous wrestler." This film may leave you in tears when beforehand, I was resentful to seeing it. It's a good film that dips its toe into larger life themes.

Rating: See It

-Nolan