Against the Ropes (2004)

That other 2004 boxing movie directed by an actor who casts himself as a trainer in the film, Charles S. Dutton's Against the Ropes is no Million Dollar Baby, but it does also focus on the unusual role of a woman in the world of pugilism. As played by Meg Ryan with a raspy Midwestern mill-town accent, that woman comes across as a lot tougher than her coiffed appearance would indicate, and a lot better informed about baahhxing than her male counterparts want to admit. Thankfully, she doesn't play the martyr saint. Ryan and Dutton realize that even though she's the only female representative in this male-dominated world, she can be less than perfect, and get the kind of inflated head that alienates both her boxer (Omar Epps) and the audience. Unfortunately, the film doesn't go quite far enough in documenting these human weaknesses, which leaves the audience a bit puzzled when she becomes universally vilified in the boxing community. The story then takes on many of the standard components of failure and redemption, all leading toward "the big fight" whose outcome is a tad less than uncertain. By the time the film closes with the most tired of clichés -- the slow clap that builds toward thunderous applause -- Against the Ropes has devolved into something utterly conventional. Maybe it's appropriate that a film that deals so much with dualities -- black and white, male and female -- has very few shades of gray. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide