Fighting With My Family movie review

MOVIE TITLE: Fighting With My Family

RATING: PG-13

LENGTH: 107 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE: B

IN A NUTSHELL: Based on the true story of Raya Knight (Paige) who became the youngest Diva’s Champion in history, this movie has the typical underdog vibe but with unexpected feels. You pretty much know going into it how the story is going to end, especially if you have seen the trailer, so I was surprised to get teary-eyed in the end.

Raya Knight’s popularity and influence helped usher in the “Women’s Revolution” in professional wrestling in the WWE. My husband used to wrestle with my four sons when they were little, giving them funny names like “The Blonde Sheik”, “Abdul the Butcher”, and “Pango Pango.” Ha ha

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

Some profanity and crude language.
A young man tosses drugs into a garbage bin and an older woman sees it and retrieves it for herself.
A blind, teenage boy flips the bird.
Talk of a boy getting aroused.
A man throws a heavy ball at another man’s genitals.
A guy and girl have a baby out of wedlock.

THEMES:

“Don’t worry about being the next ‘me’. Be the first YOU.” – Dwayne Johnson
Everyone just wants to belong and not be an outsider.
Learning to fall
Reaching for your dream
Family
Women in wrestling

THINGS I LIKED:

Florence Pugh gives a knock-out performance. She acquired raving fans when appearing in The Falling and Lady Macbeth. Did you see those films?
Comedian Stephen Merchant writes a funny, yet poignant and lovable biopic. I love that he played the conservative father, Hugh.
The movie starts with footage of “The Rock” in his fighting days. I’m such a fan of Dwayne Johnson. I got a kick out of his speech to Raya and Zak. He doesn’t get a lot of screen time, despite the movie poster that makes it look like he stars in the film, but his role is important in motivating character development. There’s also footage of some of the other great wrestlers along the years.
Nick Frost is funny and hilarious as Ricky Knight.
I thought the brother/sister dynamic was real and touching.
Harry Potter rejects. Ha ha
I always love it when you get to see video clips of the real people at the end of the movie.
You can find all kinds of documentaries online about Paige Knight, such as WWE Divas Championship Match Nikki Bella vs. Paige.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

As promised by the title, there is a lot of fighting: physical, emotional, and verbal.
The thick British accents might make it difficult for Americans to understand some of the dialogue.
It looked like Lena Headey had a hard time with that ring stuck in her lip. Her mouth was always making weird expressions.
The Knight family actually has another daughter who is not a wrestler. She’s currently a dentist and wasn’t featured in the movie.
The ending felt a bit rushed.

FUNNY LINES:
* “I love your accent. You sound like a Nazi in a movie.” – Kirsten (Aqueela Zoll)

“Thank you.” – Paige

INTERESTING LINES:

“Just because millions of people aren’t cheering when you do it, doesn’t mean it’s not important.” – Paige (Florence Pugh)
“We love wrestling. It’s like coke, crack, and heroin combined.” – Julia Knight (Lena Headey)
‘You gotta have the skills and you gotta have the spark.” – Hutch (Vince Vaughn)