Melissa Leo and Christian Bale both won Academy Awards for their supporting roles in The Fighter, not the best at acceptance speeches but they 100% deserved the Oscars nonetheless.
Dickey Eckland (Bale), and Micky Ward (Wahlberg) are half brothers and both boxers. Dickey's time in the spotlight has passed and HBO is following him for a documentary on the effects of crack cocaine. Micky is an up and coming boxer who is struggling to be more than a "stepping stone" for other fighters. His girlfriend Charlene (Adams) convinces him to fire his mother (Leo) and brother and hire a legit manager and trainer to get his career going in the right direction.
The Fighter shows the fall out of this family and what they have to do to repair the family. Dickey goes to jail, but gets clean while continuing to give his kid brother boxing tips from inside. The mother struggles with being pushed out of the loop and takes her team of daughters to intimidate Charlene (unsuccessfully) into leaving her son alone. Micky starts to win fights but remains torn on cutting his family out of his boxing career. Don't worry, happy ending.
I believed the actors, the emotions, the dynamics and was impressed with direction, acting, writing and editing. Watching the boxing matches felt like seeing a HBO live fight and really pulled you in while adding an extra layer of intensity. In a nutshell this movie feels real and pulls no punches. (sorry, had to!)
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