Girlfight (2000)

Fresh and Exciting

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Well I must admit that I had expected something more in the likes of "Rocky" here, just with a female lead instead, but it turned out to be something more of a 'coming of age' story rather than a hard-punching boxing movie.The story in "Girlfight" is about a girl who is quite a tomboy, and she wishes to take on boxing, much against the wishes of her father. Training is hard and laboring, but the girl is determined to pull through. Love also comes knocking on her door as she falls in love with a fellow boxer at the gym, but the way to the top is not easy.What made this movie work out, was the atmosphere during the training scenes and the atmosphere in the boxing gym. Plus the performances put on by Michelle Rodriguez and Jaime Tirelli, as they really carried the movie nicely.There is a fair amount of late teenage stuff in the movie, which may or may not be suitable just for anyone. And some might certainly think that it is slowing the movie down, and I believe that would be those who come to watch this movie for the boxing scenes. (Which I initially did in the beginning.) For a first movie appearance, then Michelle Rodriguez really pulled it off nicely here and establishes her characteristic face on the map.I went into this movie with one expectation, but the movie turned that around and made me walk away with something else entirely. "Girlfight" is quite a good movie, entertaining and fun.

OK, let's get serious here, this movie is just Karyn Kusama's feminist fantasy of sex role reversal and hatred of men put to film.Spoilers**** Spoilers*******We have the rejection of motherhood in the beginning where Diana looks down upon the mother and children from above- yes this was planned.Diana is fairly masculine in appearance and attitude but is showcased as being 'feminine' by the reactions of others outside of her father. So the new definition of 'feminine' gets established as no longer being soft and empathetic but hard, strong, and muscular (masculine).We have the always present abusive father who also happens to 'support' those bad traditional and 'sexist' roles found in intelligent cultures everywhere across the globe.We have the 'tiny' effeminate brother, helpless before the might of his sister when she beats down and nearly strangles her father in the kitchen. Tiny boy represents Kusama's acceptable role for a male as he can do nothing but beg his sister who now rules the house.Lastly we have the ridiculous love interest named after Rocky Balboa's wife, Adrian, who falls in love with Diana but then must fight her in the ring... um yeah right. So in a nutshell Diana beats up all the men in the gym, finds a surrogate father who shows her that, physical reality be damned women can do anything. She then beats her up father, and then beats up her boyfriend who then begs to have her back when it's all over! Kasuma fantasy is pretty simple- she covets male power, hates men, and despises femininity, so her answer is the fantasy of women becoming men (while still being labeled women) and for men to turn into women or just disappear entirely.

Sports movies have never been my thing, but a small handful of them work for me. The best are the those which focus less on the sport and more on the character, such as Raging Bull, the Wrestler and Girlfight. This is a great directorial debut for Karyn Kusama, and an outstanding first performance for Michelle Rodriguez. The plot is strait forward enough. Diana Guzman, is in her fourth year of high school, but due to her picking fights in the hallway, she is close to expulsion. As a possible means of unleashing her anger, she signs up for boxing lessons at the club where her brother is training (at the wishes of their father).In the course of ninety minutes, we the viewers see something extraordinary. Diana almost literally changes from a girl to a woman. We see it in her body as well as her behaviour, especially when one of the boys at the club finds himself drawn to her, and she gets into it. There is not a bad scene or a lame/contrived moment in the film. The only error that I would say could be corrected is that one of the subplots ends on what feels like an unfinished note. Aside from that, Girlfight is a great movie.

I saw this film for the first time last night and absolutely loved it.Michelle Rodriguez's performance was amazing (especiallty as it was her debut movie) she was completely believable as Diana the tough troubled girl.I liked the way that in the movie not everything worked out to provide a perfect ending, like how her Dad never saw her win her big fight and there was never a soppy 'I love you daddy' scene, it just showed a snapshot of her life and I am sure she would have continued to struggle and fight for what she wanted pretty much for the rest of her life.I also liked the ambiguity about her relationship with Adrian at the end, because after all this movie is not a fairytale!An excellent movie with brilliant performances from all especially Michelle.