Resurrecting the Champ

    Resurrecting the Champ
    2007

    Synopsis

    Up-and-coming sports reporter rescues a homeless man ("Champ") only to discover that he is, in fact, a boxing legend believed to have passed away. What begins as an opportunity to resurrect Champ's story and escape the shadow of his father's success becomes a personal journey as the ambitious reporter reexamines his own life and his relationship with his family.

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    Cast

    • Samuel L. JacksonChamp
    • Josh HartnettErik Kenman Jr.
    • Alan AldaRalph Metz
    • Teri HatcherAndrea Flak
    • Kathryn MorrisJoyce Kernan
    • Dakota GoyoTeddy Kernan
    • Rachel NicholsPolly
    • Nick SandowMarciano
    • Kristen ShawKristen Shaw
    • David PaymerWhitley

    Recommendations

    • 80

      Film Threat

      It is great to see a boxing movie that portrays both boxing and Jackson in different lights.
    • 70

      The Hollywood Reporter

      Charged by a knock-out performance from Samuel L. Jackson, this compelling story of manly redemption will deliver a winning boxoffice combination of word of mouth and ultimately step outside the generic ring of sports lore.
    • 67

      Christian Science Monitor

      By skewing the film into a father-son inspirational saga, the filmmakers sell out the best possibilities in their material. Lurie clearly wants Resurrecting the Champ to be "more" than a sports movie, or a newspaper movie. Ironically, he ends up with less.
    • 67

      Seattle Post-Intelligencer

      It's more intelligent than most Hollywood movies you'll find in the heat of summer, and its saving grace is the quality of its acting, including Jackson's uncompromising turn as the old fighter, and delicious bits by David Paymer and Alan Alda as veteran editors.
    • 63

      Chicago Tribune

      The film is easy to take, though it must be said: It's almost 100 percent blather.
    • 60

      Variety

      Overly sentimentalized and the execution is slack. If not for Samuel L. Jackson's performance as the ravaged boxer, "Champ" would be of limited interest.
    • 50

      Village Voice

      This isn't great raw material, though Lurie and his screenwriters try their best to portray Erik as some guilt-ridden evildoer who's perpetrated a great fraud.
    • 50

      Austin Chronicle

      Stays on its feet through all the rounds, but it never “floats like a butterfly.”