A mother attacks a daughter. A son pummels his father to the ground. A woman punches another woman in the face. A man is thrown into a pile of drawing pins. Another man gets a pool ball hopped off his mush. People scream with exhaustion and frustration and a brother drops his sister on her head. It sounds horrible doesn't it. Like an excruciating slice of life from Ken Loach or something similar. Seems like the kind of film that would have you leaving the cinema on a huge downer. You might be surprised to know all this takes place in a movie that will have you leaving your seat with a huge grin on your face. A movie that's a really lovely watch.
The Knight's are a family from Norwich who love their wrestling. It's in their blood. It's a love that saved parents Patrick (Nick Frost) and Julia (Lena Headley) from a life of misery and now their children Raya (Florence Pugh) and Zak (Jack Lowden) have their sights set on wrestling for the WWE. Their skillful ring routines eventually attract the attention of the biggest wrestling corporation on earth but only Paige gets the call up, leaving Zak devastated. As her star ascends Zak's heart is torn out.
I thoroughly enjoyed this. It mightn't sound like fun but it's loaded with laughs but more importantly it's full of heart too. The Knight family are a genuinely lovable bunch who just happen to be adept at pummeling each other for the entertainment of others. They're a relatable bunch, dealing with problems we've all faced, lack of financial stability, familial strife, alienation, depression, getting a bowling ball in the nuts.......ok scratch that last one. They feel real and this is why the film works. You care about them. Raya who was a big fish in the small pond of Norwich wrestling but who's now a tiddler in the American big leagues and poor Zak who gets a brutal lesson in how life can be massively disappointing now matter how much you believe in yourself.
The best sports movies work even if you aren't a fan of the sport itself. Field Of Dreams, Bull Durham, Escape To Victory, Senna, Bend It Like Beckham, Rocky, He Got Game, Cinderella Man, Rudy and so many more. They all worked because they presented us with characters we grow to love. Once you have a backbone like that you can throw anything at an audience and they'll lap it up. The madness of the wrestling world is a place many people will have avoided but here you'll be gripped by it. Ya, it's all make believe but it's physicality is brutally authentic. The toll it all takes on it's participants is immense and director Stephen Merchant never shies away from it's impact on people. His TV work like The Office and Extras were great at mixing humour with pathos and that formula works here once again to great effect.
A great cast sells it too. Florence Pugh and Jack Lowden are both excellent as siblings torn asunder by their dreams. Lowden especially, disappointment and sadness etched large across his face. Both of them nail the physical side of their roles too looking totally believable as theatrical scrappers. Nick Frost is better than he's been since the early days of his Edgar Wright collaborations as a Da who might look scary but inside is just a big ol' ball of softness. Lena Headley puts in a fine shift too and displays a very different type of maternal instinct than we're used to seeing from her role in Game of Thrones. Chuck in a fun cameo from Dwayne Johnson and a few other familiar WWE faces alongside Vince Vaughn channeling his training role from Dodgeball but with a serious twist and you have plenty of ingredients for a fun time.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable film about never giving up on your dreams while never forgetting where you come from. It's funny, it's upsetting, it's dramatic and it's all based on a true story. Don't look it up and spoil it for yourself though, just watch it and enjoy it. You can never go wrong with an underdog tale.
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