This
is the "Year of the Mother" in movies with Melissa Leo in "The Fighter"
as the mother of 7 girls and 2 boys--by 3 different husbands, I
think---and Jacki Weaver in "Animal Kingdom" as the mother of 3 boys,
just to name 2 who rule the roost!

I am
not into boxing, nor boxing films, though I did stand up and cheer at
the end of "Rocky". but the acting, the fact that it is based on a true
story and the whole crazy family in this movie keep you interested. The
film deals more with the mostly uneducated, family is all mentality,
than it does in the ring, at times offering natural feeling humor and a
few tears.

Amy Adams, as Charlene Fleming, Mark Wahlberg's girlfriend, is a good match against Melissa Leo, as his mother and
Christian Bale's, Mark's brother though I am not sure if they had the
same father.

The main fight here is not in the ring or Charlene  versus the mother and the 7 sisters but between Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg in the acting department. Christian is Dicky, a crack addicted, almost made it at one time, ex-fighter, half brother of Mark Wahlberg's Micky, on his way to taking over his brother's former title of "Pride
of Lowell, Massachusetts" as a fighter. Sorry for the pun but both give
knock out performances though Bale has the edge as his character is
written a bit more showy. Both should be in the running for many awards.

The
screenplay by Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson based on the
true  story of the two brothers and their family, captures the  time,
place and despair of the town, the citizens and the brothers. Directed by David O. Russell he tries as much as possible not to be entrapped by the cliches of a boxing film and concentrates on the dysfunctional family and the love between Wahlberg and Adams, going into the ring and the gym when he must.
The open war between the girlfriend and the mother and the quiet war
between the two brothers is what makes this more than a boxing film.