61
Metascore
6 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 83Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumWriter-director Salvatore Stabile has a good eye for the details of hard-luck ordinariness, and he sketches believable family bonds with a minimum of flourish.
- 70VarietyRonnie ScheibVarietyRonnie ScheibPiles the pathos high as if to see how many hard-luck cliches its pugilist hero can fend off without succumbing to schmaltz. Given John Leguizamo's knockout perf, sentimentality never dares raise its head, and the improbably stacked deck from which his character is dealt gives the pic's would-be "neo-realist" premise a peculiar edge.
- 70New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNew York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinThe acting, the on-the-fly atmosphere (the film was shot quickly), and Leguizamo's increasingly urgent hustle are deeply evocative, but parts of the movie are almost too painful to endure.
- 60Village VoiceVillage VoiceLeguizamo, working at a scramble, gets more on-screen traction than in recent memory.
- 50The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenAlthough Mr. Leguizamo wisely underplays a role that is just short of saintly, the character is still a filmmaker's bogus, bleeding-heart contrivance in a movie that is much less truthful than it pretends to be.
- Stabile keeps his affecting story hurtling forward with such grit and integrity it's easy to forgive its loaded setup and occasional lapses in detail and logic.