RESURRECTING THE CHAMP A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2007 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): **
RESURRECTING THE CHAMP, a feel-good wannabe, tries hard to pull at our heartstrings but consistently falls flat. Starring Josh Hartnett, one of Hollywood's blandest and least talented actors, the film drags for its entire first hour, as it sets up the twist that it is obviously coming from the very beginning. The twist does contain a small surprise, although my wife said that even the small surprise was easy to guess.
Along the way, there are a few good moments, thanks to a nice enough but one-note performance by Samuel L. Jackson as the Champ. Not a bad movie, per se, RESURRECTING THE CHAMP just never engages its audience, even if the sappy music does its best to remind us about how we are supposed to be feeling. Personally I never found any of the characters compelling, and the dialog wasn't much better.
Hartnett plays Erik, a mediocre newspaper reporter who covers the local sports beat in Denver. Cursed by having a famous father who was a broadcast legend in the sports world, Erik wants badly to prove himself. But he inherited his father's name but none of the gift for words. As Metz (Alan Alda), Erik's boss so aptly puts it, Erik does "lots of typing but not much writing." With an ability to crank out large volumes of bland stories, he is rarely given any important assignments.
Since Erik's career is going nowhere fast, he decides to try for a higher profile position at a magazine. But to launch that career switch, he needs a front-page worthy story first.
Erik sees Champ as his ticket to the big leagues of sports reporting. A homeless guy, who vociferously says that he is not a bum, Champ has always claimed to be a famous fighter named Battlin' Bob. Although he might as well have a neon sign on his forehead announcing that he really isn't who he says he is, the first hour of the film is stuck in neutral as the viewers wait, with increasing impatience, to be told whether Champ is Battlin' Bob or not. He does show us one small proof, which he asserts proves his identity.
In a rush to publish, Erik only does cursory fact checking, which, of course, is a recipe for disaster. The last part of the story, which has more promise but still manages to disappoint, concerns the trouble that Erik has created for himself.
RESURRECTING THE CHAMP runs 1:51. It is rated PG-13 for "some violence and brief language" and would be acceptable for kids around 9 and up.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, August 24, 2007. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
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