Fighting With My Family

This review may contain spoilers!

While I may know little about WWE, I certainly can recognise one of the better biopics to have emerged from 2019. I would give Fighting With My Family an 8/10.

Fighting With My Family focuses on Saraya Knight AKA 'Paige', a young wrestler from Norwich who transitions from wrestling alongside her family in their local outfit to entering the WWE main event. Paige is a great protagonist to watch and it becomes very clear why her story is worthy of a feature film. This is a young woman who is raised around wrestling and it becomes a passion for her and she fights and trains alongside those in her community. Watching the dysfunctional dynamic this family shares is a fair avenue for plenty of comedy and heart, no more so than the really close relationship between Saraya and her brother, Zak. When theses two siblings get their shot of joining the WWE and Saraya succeeds in making it through to the next stage we get to the real meat of the plot. Paige struggles to find a place away from her family and as she fails to connect with those she trains alongside it becomes clear that a rift is developing between her and her brother, who is unable to come to grips with his failed audition. Watching this protagonist overcome her challenges and rise to become a champion in the wrestling world makes for a great outsider/underdog story that is very well executed. The cinematography manages to capture the dynamic action of the wrestling sequence while also holding the dialogue scenes in an intimate and engaging manner. The editing keeps a steady pace, often moving the film with a very deliberate sense of purpose. The soundtrack for Fighting With My Family is perfect for an underdog narrative, it's a lot of rock that you can associate with Saraya and her rise against the expectations stacked against her.

Nick Frost, who played Ricky Knight, is very entertaining an the boisterous, ambitious head of the family; Frost's role is always scheming and angling at new ways to improve the family wrestling experience in Norwich which leads to some funny scenes and some scenes where you see him struggle with his disconnect from his children and their emotional state. Lena Headey, who played Julia Knight, just seems really pumped and charged up by the wrestling environment; yet Headey does a great job of grounding her role and acting as a figure of support for her onscreen daughter and son. Florence Pugh, who played Saraya Knight, makes for a great lead protagonist; Pugh really shows the intense moments of loneliness and reluctance her character struggles through before fighting to achieve her goals. Jack Lowden, who played Zak Knight, is a really charismatic figure who stands out as a community leader in this film; Lowden really plays to his role's passion for wrestling and the loss he feels when he is unable to break into the WWE. Ellie Gonsalves, Aqueela Zoll and Kim Matula, who played Maddison, Kirsten and Jeri-Lynn respectively, really take a lot of the perception around women in wrestling and do a great job of challenging it in this film; the way this trio of actresses ground their respective roles means that we're able to get an interesting sub-plot around judging people based upon their appearance.

However, the best performance came from Vince Vaughn, who played Hutch. This is a very abrasive, curt figure who goes with his istincts and doesn't have the time to take anyone else's nonsense. As far as coaches go Vaughn makes for one hard individual, this is a man who is unapologetically brutal in how he pushes those who train under him. As a performer Vaughn has been known for his great sense of humour and he employs this in the film to throw out scalding lines of dialogue that really lift scenes up and bring you into the world of WWE. I liked how Vaughn takes a pause from his coach persona in some key moments to impart a glimpse into his role's background, he wants Paige to succeed ultimately but isn't prepared to compromise to see her do it. Vaughn is an intense figure to watch but also incredibly witty, constantly stealing the show in the second act.

This film is a good biopic and works well with what it has, but it also plays incredibly safely with the material as well. This is not a story that goes to any lengths to surprise youor really set you on edge, it is a simple cut and dry underdog story that concludes almost exactly how you'd expect. I also thought that when Saraya does return to the WWE we get a very sudden, sharp turnaround; her focus on finding a place is a colossal 180 that the film commits to quite strongly and rubs against the more grounded quality the film has going for it previously.

Dwayne Johnson, who played himself, was a gratuitous cameo the film seemed proud to have but didn't really know what to do with; Johnson never enhanced the narrative and was really just there to provoke a bit of humour. Mohammad Amiri, Jack Goldbourne and Elroy Powell, who played Ez, Calum and Union Jack respectively, are some of the figures who represent the Norwich wrestling community; you never really get much out of the characters themselves and often these are roles with significant screen time who slip into the background. Hannah Rae, who played Courtney, is a character who is supposed to have a pretty clear connection with Lowden's role though this doesn't come across; Rae never stands out as an actual romantic partner to Lowden's Zak and their relationship feels quite unimportant. Julia Davis and Stephen Merchant, who played Daphne and Hugh respectively, are just here for the gag that they don't know anything about WWE; the scene in which Davis shows that she's quite into the sport now and is relatively easy gag and these roles don't get much response from the audience. James Burrows, who played Roy Knight, is a role introduced right into the third act so you didn't really have time to connect with him; Burrows' role feels like he should be relatively important but because the film doesn't place enough emphasis on him his screen time passes under the radar.