Grudge Match

Grudge Match casts Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro as lifelong boxing rivals who reluctantly agree to participate in one final fight, with the movie, for the most part, following Stallone’s Razor and De Niro’s The Kid as they prepare for the aforementioned altercation alongside their respective trainers. It’s a relatively strong premise that’s employed to curiously lifeless effect by filmmaker Peter Segal, with the initial novelty of the setup (and the impending battle between Rocky Balboa and Jake La Motta) slowly-but-surely crushed beneath a narrative that’s rife with familiar, eye-rollingly conventional elements. It is, as such, not surprising to note that Grudge Match grows more and more tedious as time progresses, as Tim Kelleher and Rodney Rothman’s emphasis on run-of-the-mill character elements – eg The Kid attempts to get closer to his estranged son (Jon Bernthal’s B.J.), Razor copes with the sudden appearance of an estranged ex-girlfriend (Kim Basinger’s Sally) – perpetuates the film’s decidedly less-than-engrossing atmosphere. The film’s lazy vibe extends especially to Stallone and De Niro’s paycheck-cashing performances, with the two actors unable to wholeheartedly step into the shoes of their one-dimensional characters – which, in turn, prevents the viewer from working up an ounce of interest in their continuing exploits. By the time the stale and hopelessly uninvolving title bout rolls around, Grudge Match has certainly confirmed its place as a palpably needless vanity project that one endures more than one enjoys.

*1/2 out of ****