The Calcium Kid (2004)

Following a bizarre series of events, Jimmy, a local amateur boxer, finds himself pitted in a match against the world champion.

Director:

Alex De Rakoff

Writers:

Raymond Friel, Derek Boyle

Stars:

Mark Heap, Michael Lerner, Michael Peña

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mark Heap	...	Sebastian Gore-Brown
Michael Lerner	...	Artie Cohen
Michael Peña	...	Jose Mendez
Julian Zapata	...	Jose's Entourage
Alejandro Ramirez	...	Jose's Entourage
Milton Hernandez	...	Jose's Entourage
Alberto Ramon	...	Jose's Entourage
Hector Trujillo	...	Jose's Entourage
John Correa	...	Jose's Entourage
Janier Morales Drado	...	Jose's Entourage
Wilson Cretaro da Luz Jr.	...	Jose's Entourage (as Wilson Cretaro da Luz Jnr)
Tamer Hassan	...	Pete Wright
Omid Djalili	...	Herbie Bush
John Joyce	...	Jon Wright
Cathy Dunning	...	Jeanne Wright

Storyline

Jimmy Connelly, an English bachelor milkman, 'accidentally' knocks down his boxing club's champion as a stand-in sparring partner. The champ was scheduled for a title fight against the reigning, American world champion, so the sleazy manager decides to substitute him with Jimmy, who is now groomed for stardom. Naive Jimmy does everything the crook says, only to be blamed when it all explodes in their faces big time. Will he keep taking it or stand his ground before his whole career and private life are ruined?

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Plot Keywords:

breaking a board with one's head | milk | champion | fight | boxing | 

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Taglines:

He doesn't just beat his opponents... He creams them.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and brief nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official Site Working Title Films (prod co)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 April 2004 (UK)

Also Known As:

A kalcium kölyök

Filming Locations:

Express Dairies, Wakefield St, London, England, UK

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£61,415 (United Kingdom), 2 May 2004, Limited Release

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, StudioCanal, Working Title Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jamie Gambell: when Stan is fighting with various people in the bar, the guy that he wrestles with on the pool table is the second boom operator.

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Quotes

Jimmy: [alone under the bedcover] Say my name. Mm. Yeah, baby, yeah. Yeah...
Sebastian Gore-Brown: [clears throat] Jimmy?
[Jimmy looks up from underneath the cover]
Sebastian Gore-Brown: Morning. Um, we're the documentary team. We'll be filming you 24 hours a day in the run-up to the fight.
Jimmy: Of course, the fight. Who would have thought it? Jimmy Connelly fighting Jose Mendez for the championship belt.
Sebastian Gore-Brown: So, tell us, how does Jimmy Connelly start his day?
Jimmy: Umm... Well, as you probably noticed... I normally start off in the morning with a set of fifty ...

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Crazy Credits

The Producer acknowledges that the behavior of the character "Jimmy Connelly" in the Film does not reflect the health and safety procedures of Express Dairies

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Connections

Spoofs Rocky II (1979)

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Soundtracks

Going Underground
Written by Paul Weller
Performed by The Jam
Courtesy of Polydor UK Ltd

User Reviews

A simple story is still the very best writing

My sister managed to track down a Region 1 copy of "The Calcium Kid" for me on DVD.

I thought it was a good little movie. It turned out to be MUCH better than I thought it would be; I figured it'd be a comedy and some good laughs, but it had some serious quality to it too, which was deftly executed by the writers, director, and the actors. Anyone who says Bloom isn't a good or even competent actor needs to watch this film, honestly; he lands on the scale talent-wise down below Johnny Depp, admittedly, but he's still as good or better than a lot of "stars" I see on the big screen. (Give me an actor any day of the week over a star, has always been my motto.

I've always in the past liked actors hardly anyone knew.) The story is pretty simple (proving yet again, as I beat my head on my keyboard trying to come up with a good book idea, the best stories have the least bullshit to them). Jimmy Connelly is a milk deliveryman with a dairy. This guy loves milk not just in his job, but in his real life, and has imbibed so much over the course of his life that his bones are hard as granite.

For exercise, Jimmy likes to spar in the boxing ring and answers an ad at a neighborhood gym to help English middleweight hopeful Pete Wright train for his upcoming match with Mexican-American middleweight world champ Jose Mendez in London. Wright breaks the bones in his hand on Jimmy's head and Pete's manager, Herbie Bush, is forced to find someone to step into the ring in only 7 days for the heavily-televised match. He picks Jimmy, who has no sports career, and the press quickly picks up on the new kid in the "David and Goliath" vein of storytelling.

Without giving too much away, I'll just say Jimmy encounters obstacles along the way, both humorous and poignantly sad. He starts the movie as a wide-eyed, cheerfully simple fellow and ends it pretty much the same way, but does grow as a character. There are several points where Bloom's expressive facial features - eyes, mouth, eyebrows - tell a lot more than even what Jimmy is saying, and it seems he takes direction very well from whomever is behind the camera. Jimmy's no brain trust, but when push comes to shove, he's smarter than he looks, at least in common sense.

The movie is filmed "mockumentary" style - the "director" is setting out to document Pete Wright's training a week before the match, as well as his daily life and background, but switches to Jimmy's story once he steps into Pete's place. The use of cutaway shots and still frames is a bit odd at first, but you get used to them, and it works; ditto with the soundtrack choices.

There were several supporting characters I liked a lot, in addition to Jimmy. His manager, Herbie Bush (forgive me, I don't have all the actors' names in front of me as I write, so I'm going to refer to the character names), is a guy looking to make a buck any way he can, and usually comes off as strictly an opportunist lout. He's not really a bad guy, though - he thinks fast on his feet and talks too much, but his schemes just don't usually work out the way he envisions.

Probably the characters I'll remember the most, though, are the crazy neighbor girl, Margaret, and Jimmy's pal Stan. Margaret reminds me of those celebrity stalkers you read about, who just adores Jimmy. She is not, however, the woman you want to see him with at the end of the day. Stan is a comfortably slovenly overweight fellow who sticks by Jimmy when things go bad, and ends up helping him train in odd ways. Another character I liked was Paddy, Jimmy's trainer, who keeps calling him the wrong name, LOL. ("You mad old Irish bastard! My name's NOT Johnny! It's Jimmy!")

All in all, I will definitely watch it again. I get excited by good storytelling, as a writer, because it inspires me in small ways.