"Fighting Tommy Riley" is so naively scripted, and presented in such a pedantic, pedestrian manner, that I couldn't tell what the point of the picture was more than half-way into it. Grossly elongated and slower than molasses, it tells the extremely tired tale of a hot-headed young boxer, once an Olympic hopeful with coach/stepfather issues, who is taken under the wing of a burnt-out ex-coach-turned-schoolteacher; both men learn to appreciate life again through training and becoming friends, until the fighter finds out his coach is not only gay, but harbors a secret, shame-filled yen for him. Screenwriter and co-producer J.P. Davis plays the boxer, and his youthful confusion over the circumstance at hand is understandable--though I would think the kid might be a bit more street-smart than this. Eddie Jones has the showier role, seated ringside and always handy with the literary quotes and speeches about trust. The film doesn't seem to know much about the sport of boxing, and the camera is never in the right place for us to get the feel of a bout, the rush of adrenaline. Still, some of the dialogue isn't bad, and Davis' attempt to get at something intense and personal is surely commendable, yet the movie is never much more than ordinary. ** from ****
Review of Fighting Tommy Riley
