As well-done as The Fighter is as a typical boxing movie about an underdog from humble beginnings with a true story at its base, the way it's fleshed out with its colorful auxiliary characters is what truly makes it worthwhile. I was surprised by how funny this movie is while still having a good deal of gravity and realism at its core, and that's no small achievement -- as we all know, dramedy isn't easy to do well, and successfully breaking with genre in any way is even rarer, especially in sports movies.

The story follows Mark Wahlberg as boxer "Irish" Mickey Ward as he emerges from the shadow of his once-great, now crack-addicted brother Dickie (played marvelously by a near-Machinist-level gaunt Christian Bale, who is a sure bet for an Oscar nomination here) to win a title and gradually learn to be independent of his manipulative family, aided in no small part by his ambitious hot-bartender girlfriend (Amy Adams). His mother (Melissa Leo) is a classic stage mom and a glorious Massachusetts stereotype who chain smokes, doesn't know how to form "R" sounds and manipulates her sons like it's her full-time job. Dickie and Mickey also have seven sisters, and they are as imposingly hysterical as you can imagine. And if you've never been to Massachusetts and can't imagine all of this, you'll still find all of the family scenes hysterically funny, because as good as the writing is in them, the performances by all involved are even better. Melissa Leo in particular is just breathtakingly good, even for her.

And the boxing scenes? They're no joke, either. Wahlberg reportedly refused to have a stunt double and trained wicked hahd to become a convincing boxer, and all of those scenes have suspense and great punches and blood and guts and glory and everything that they should. You're happy when he wins in the end, but you saw it coming all along, of course, because that's the way these movies are. Basically, go for the hilarious family scenes, stay for the kidney punches. I wish I could say that about more movies.

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