Movie Review - Fighting with My Family

This film could be about the difference between competitive wrestling and what's known as professional wrestling. When people think of professional wrestling, they think of the WWE, which is the most popular, professional wrestling operation and in various ways the only professional wrestling operation. When it comes to professional wrestling, it's more akin to reality television. Some might compare it to dancing, given how choreographed a lot of it is. Competitive wrestling isn't choreographed. It is a true sport where nothing is decided ahead of time and where the people all involved don't get their paychecks from the same place or company.

However, competitive wrestling isn't like competitive football or competitive basketball. Football, basketball, baseball and even hockey have national teams owned by millionaires who are part of a larger organization that puts together huge televised games that millions of people watch. Competitive wrestling doesn't have that kind of large organization that operates with millionaire owners in almost every city in the United States. Competitive wrestling only goes as far as the collegiate level. However, collegiate wrestling is still an amateur sport. The wrestlers aren't really paid for their work unless you count scholarships.

Therefore, the WWE is the only organization, and the WWE is not like the NFL or NBA. It doesn't consist of 20 or 30 teams in various cities. The WWE is itself like one team that just has a wide-reach that rigs its own games. It would be tantamount to the New England Patriots being the only team in the NFL or the Patriots owning the NFL, and then recruiting players who only play against themselves. It's one thing to be an aspiring athlete who wants a career beyond the collegiate level to try to get a spot on one of 20 or 30 teams. It's another thing to try to get a spot on only one team. The WWE represents a kind of monopoly to the sport on a national level and that to me is the true problem that this film never acknowledges directly, mainly because the film is produced by the WWE itself.

Florence Pugh (Outlaw King and Lady Macbeth) stars as Saraya Knight, a girl from Norwich, England, who started wrestling as a teenager because her parents and older brother were all wrestlers. She's now 21 and is auditioning with her brother to enter the WWE. She's gone by various stage names, but she comes to be called "Paige" based on her favorite character from the TV series Charmed, an American fantasy about female witches. Yet, her look isn't that of that particular female witch. Her look is that of a traditional witch or at least that of a goth girl. She has long black hair, black clothes and a nose ring.

Jack Lowden (Mary Queen of Scots and Dunkirk) co-stars as Zak Knight aka Zak Zodiac. He's Saraya's eldest brother. He's two years older. He's aspiring to be in the WWE as well. He has a passion for wrestling, but he seems to want to be famous more than he wants to be a great athlete. He does teach wrestling to teenagers in his neighborhood. Some of the teens are troubled, teetering on joining gangs. He's a kind of mentor and a man of this area. At the same time, he's the one who wants to rise above it the most. He also has a pregnant girlfriend whom we don't really get to know.

Vince Vaughn (Wedding Crashers and Swingers) also co-stars as Hutch Morgan, a former WWE wrestler who is now coaching up-and-coming wrestlers. He's the one who comes to England to recruit new wrestlers. He's a wise-cracking, hard ass, not unlike what Vaughn has done in previous performances. However, this film gives him a monologue that unfortunately rang false to me.

When Hutch is in England, he sees a bunch of potential, WWE wrestlers, including Saraya and Zak. Saraya and Zak audition at the same time. It's not clear what Hutch's mandate was, but out of nearly a dozen wrestlers, he chooses just one and that's Saraya. It could be because she's the only female in the initial group and Hutch is looking forward to the NXT Women's Championship, which was inaugurated the same year that Saraya was recruited. That would be one thing, but the majority of the wrestlers are men and it's not clear why the other people weren't chosen or why even more aren't recruited unless he was only seeking one person.

Once Hutch takes Saraya to Orlando, Florida, to train at the NXT facility, he tells her that he won't give Zak a chance or opportunity there. The reason he states is because he thinks that Zak is going to ruin his personal life. Hutch states this because he feels like his personal life was ruined. When Hutch says this, it rang false and seemed so disingenuous. In a scene before this one, Saraya learns that another girl in Orlando is upset because she isn't spending time with her daughter. One of the reasons that Hutch said would ruin Zak's life is his time away from his wife and child. Why is he concerned about Zak's personal life but not the personal life of that other girl and her daughter?

Written and directed by Stephen Merchant, he's basically adapting a documentary on Saraya's family who are all wrestlers. He seemingly wants to be faithful to that documentary and to the family who obviously loves wrestling. Besmirching the business of the sport is clearly not his intention or even on his radar. It has the trajectory of most sports films, but this one is anchored by a woman, which allows it to explore issues more reflective of female experiences. It's not better than A League of Their Own (1992), but it doesn't have to be.

It could be considered on the level with other films that focus on women in sports like Bend It Like Beckham (2002) or Whip It (2009). It's inspirational like a Rocky film with similar tropes. It's weird though because aside from Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and John Cena, there aren't really any wrestlers in this that have gone mainstream. Johnson and Cena are recognizable because they've both been in blockbuster films. Other wrestlers who pop up would only be known to hardcore WWE fans, which also puts into context what success in this field most likely is, which is ultimately limited. The film does land on the right conclusion when it comes to Zak who chases the success and fame of it. You're most likely never going to get it, so one has to define success in other ways.

I'm not sure it lands on the right conclusion for Saraya. There's a question of whether or not wrestling is her dream or if it's something she truly loves. It's all she knows, so the only way to test it is if she tries to do something else or a few other things. The film teases her breaking away from wrestling. However, she's almost immediately made to feel guilty from Zak for considering that. Her parents, played by Nick Frost and Lena Headey, end up with the right opinion, but her brief consideration of something else is quickly shot down, so the question is never truly answered.

There's also a question of what kind of fame or success will she have. Given that the WWE is the only game in town and it's such a male-dominated world, it's limiting to how far she can go. There's this implication that she could go and be the next Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, but even if she were a tall, muscle-bound, charming guy, her chances for mainstream crossover are still next to nil, so it still feels like a hollow victory. Maybe if a female, WWE wrestler who was the same age as The Rock or older was there for her, that might have put a different light on it, but as it is, it felt hollow. A more interesting and insightful or more satirical look at female wrestlers is Netflix's Glow.

Rated PG-13 for crude material, language, some drug content and violence.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 48 mins.