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Fighting With My Family Review


The Night Paige Won The Divas Championship
WWE Network
Raw 4/7/2014


Rarely does a WWE Studios movie even get me to sit on a couch to watch it, let alone pay money out of my pocket to go see it in a large theater. But there I was at a local Alamo Drafthouse eating Fish and Chips (somewhat oddly appropriate) and enjoying a nice beverage to enjoy a WWE movie on the big screen.

This isn't just a WWE movie. This is a story of a young woman who grew up in an ordinary yet extraordinary family (a wrestling family) and ascended to reach her dreams... and faced all the hardships and harsh realities that dream came with. It's also the story of her brother, who also tried desperately to reach his dreams but was not chosen by his dream.

Fighting With My Family doesn't take the easy road of making this a wrestling movie alone. While the family involved does work in the wrestling industry, this film, at its core, is about a brother and sister following the same path until one event splits their path forever.

Florence Pugh nails the role of Paige, or Saraya Bevis. Her performance as Paige was amazing and captured the spirit of Paige from beginning to end of this film. Likewise, in a small role, I felt that Thea Trinidad (Zelina Vega) nailed her performance as AJ Lee in the film. I had a hard time reminding myself that it wasn't AJ in the movie. She had the mannerism and performance down.  
As far as other acting kudos, I have to give kudos to Jack Lowden as Paige's brother, Zak. His ability to convey the emotions of the character, especially after the disappointment of the training through the rest of the movie, was very impressive. Likewise, I thought Nick Frost and Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister on Game of Thrones) did a great job as Paige's wacky parents. And Vince Vaughn was very good in this movie as well as a fictionalized trainer/coach/agent in NXT.

The movie itself is hilarious and touching all at the same time. It's a great family drama and a story of persevering despite all of the obstacles thrown in your way. It's also a great story about how one should characterize being "successful." Even if your dreams are never fully realized, you can still live a successful, fulfilling life. (And in that, I found Zak's story to be a very well-crafted B-story in this film.)

The next part contains a lot of spoilers. So....

**SPOILER ALERT**

Now, I hate to be "THAT guy," but I did have some minor issues with the movie. I absolutely hated the way that NXT was portrayed in this film. They completely ignored a lot of what made NXT special in 2012-2013, and they  completely ignored the fact that Paige was the NXT Women's Champion. And, as a matter of fact, many wrestling fans already knew who Paige was before she debuted on Raw. While NXT's purpose is that of a developmental program, it also had a running live event and TV program (of which only the live event aspect is seen). By March 2014, NXT already had their first big event on the just-launched WWE Network and was already hailed by wrestling fans as one of the premiere programs of wrestling. So, it's not like Paige was this completely random person who just showed up on WWE TV one day.

And that's my second problem: I get that WWE likes to whitewash history a bit. But they did a bit of whitewashing in this final moment of the movie. They made Paige to be a nervous, frightened, speechless character when she came on screen. However, anyone watching that night knew that Paige had many different lines of dialogue in the match. Also, the fans were cheering her name once her music stopped. In addition, AJ Lee acted mostly the way she did, but where was Tamina in all this? Whatever you think about her, she was there. It wouldn't have taken much to just have Tamina be on set for that scene. Finally, the way the match played out and the aftermath was classic Hollywood exaggeration. In reality, Paige only used 1 move to win that match. There was no massive comeback. And when the match ended, she bolted from the ring to the aisleway to celebrate her victory. No speech. No "being different is what makes you unique" lines. No going through the crowd to see her friends, Vince Vaughn, or The Rock. I get that they want to make the scene as Hollywood as possible, but you've got to be a little more closer to reality than that.

**END SPOILERS**

Despite all my above listed issues with the movie, I still have to give Fighting With My Family **** out of ****. Great performances from the main cast, good screenwriting and pacing of the film, and a unique (albeit somewhat inaccurate) look into the crazy world of WWE. This isn't just a great wrestling movie. It's a great movie period. I will be checking out this film again in the coming weeks.

Fighting With My Family is in theaters now.

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