I would love to know more about Mickey Ward and his family. However, at the end of the film you see the real Mickey and his brother--so I assume it was made with complete cooperation of the family. This, despite the family appearing nearly 100% crazy--possibly too crazy for "The Jerry Springer Show" crazy!! However, when I looked on the internet, I really couldn't find anything that verified or refuted the portrayal of these folks. If this IS a realistic portrait, it is a wonderful argument for retroactive birth control or personal redemption--take your pick.

"The Fighter" is a film about a relatively obscure (at least up until this film) boxing champ from 2000, Mickey Ward. Although his comeback is inspirational, the reason the film is compelling is that he apparently was raised by one of the most dysfunctional families I've ever seen in film--Mowgli was raised in a better family background than this one--at least according to the movie. I could say more but you really have to see this film--it says it all.

Ward's mother (Melissa Leo) and brother (Christian Bale) in action are pretty intense and interesting. Both of them received Supporting Actress/Actor Oscars for their parts. I wasn't as impressed by Leo's acting--screaming and acting trashy was interesting but that's about all there seemed to be to the character. However, Bale was incredible. Like most of his films, you can't hear any of his natural Welsh accent but what really impressed me was what he did to play this character--losing all that weight in order to look gaunt like a crack-head. Plus, he showed a nice range of acting in the film. It's worth seeing just for his performance.

As for Amy Adams in this film, this is NOT the Amy Adams of "Enchanted"! In fact, it's about as far removed from this role or the one from "Julie and Julia" as you can find--as she plays a very earthy, crude and occasionally very unlikable character. Plus, seeing her in her underwear was a bit unnerving to me---I just kept thinking of her as a Disney princess gone bad! She was good in the film--just not exactly like I'd expected.

Mark Wahlberg apparently produced the film as well as acted in the lead. He was good, but frankly he didn't have a lot to do in the film other than box and let all the chaos happen around him. He simply went unnoticed, in a way, because so many wildly over-the-top performances surrounded him during practically every minute he was on film!

This is a well-made but often an unpleasant and very adult film--not nearly as arty as "Raging Bull" but very similar in content. And, if possible, even trashier...and like a slow-motion train wreck at times as you watch the family in action. Fortunately, late in the film there are some glimmers of hope...some.

The Fighter is a brilliant film, and for me one of the best movies of 2010 along with The King's Speech, The Social Network and Toy Story 3. The editing and cinematography are top-drawer especially as are the compellingly atmospheric score, the brilliant direction which seamlessly blends gritty realism and the theme of fighting-against-the-odds as seen in the finale and the script which has a lot of class and heart with the odd peppering of humour and good humour at that.

What made The Fighter were the boxing fight sequences and the acting. The fight sequences are very kinetic, energetic and very exciting. And thanks to the quality of the direction and script, not to mention the acting, the characters are very credible and genuine. The acting is brilliant. Mark Wahlberg gives his best performance so far and provides the heart of the film, while Amy Adams is completely different from her Enchanted persona being more crude and less infectious in a cute way. But the best performances come from Christian Bale, who is just astonishing, and Melissa Leo who is equally a revelation.

In conclusion, a knockout of a film and one of the year's best. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I'm figuring that The Fighter is going to win one flock of awards just looking at the nominations already received by this film by several film ratings organizations. The Fighter should be good to go for the Oscars, especially for Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, and Melissa Leo.

This is the true story of Micky Ward who lived a real life Rocky story albeit in a lighter weight class. Ward like the screen Rocky Balboa was headed for the career of a steppingstone type pug who turned things around in a very big way. He also redeemed the family name somewhat because he had an older brother who had a title shot, but lost it and then turned to a life of petty crime.

Mark Wahlberg who never seems to lose his New England speech pattern no matter what role he's cast in is brilliant as Micky Ward. I'm betting that it's a matter of pride to him because he certainly could afford the speech lessons. Wahlberg's biggest problem in the film is his family they are his strength and weakness. That's something he could draw from in his own family if you know something of his background.

Opposite Wahlberg is Christian Bale who has played all kinds of roles with differing accents in his career. He's as skilled as Robert Mitchum was at accents. He's got the Boston accent down perfectly as the older brother who's doing time in the can for some petty criminality and his scene at showing the pangs of crack withdrawal are reminiscent of Frank Sinatra in The Man With A Golden Arm.

But I think who really owns this film in whatever scene she's in is Melissa Leo, mother of nine children, who doubled first as manager for Bale in his career and now is steering Wahlberg's career. If she's not nominated for an Oscar in the Best Supporting Actress category she will have been robbed. Seems like I've heard that in a boxing story before.

The Fighter was shot in Lowell, Massachusetts where Ward and his family are from and director David Russell is as good with the camera as with his players. He and his film merit considerable Oscar consideration.

Do not miss a film that is destined to become one of the great boxing movies ever.