Fighting With My Family Review – Suplex of Emotions

Director: Stephen Merchant
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Lena Headey, Vince Vaughn, Kim Matula, Stephen Merchant, Nick Frost
Rating: 12A
Running time: 108 mins
Release date: 01/03/2019

Following in the footsteps of classic underdog-sports films such as Rocky, The Karate Kid, Remember The Titans and The Mighty Ducks, “Fighting With My Family” pits the charismatic Florence Pugh in the story of real-life WWE wrestler Paiges’ rise. From a family run promotion in Norwich, to the grandest stage of them all, the World Wrestling Entertainment’s Billion-Dollar, longest-running weekly televised show, RAW, Stephen Merchant writes and directs this adaptation from a documentary filmed in 2012.

Now, not knowing any of these wrestling bits and pieces you’ve read so far or will about to read, doesn’t make this film any less enjoyable. Being a fan of wrestling, of the product that WWE produce and of Paige as a wrestler and the work she has done for the industry, she is changing the landscape for female wrestlers. Going from bikini-clad, mud-wrestling, cringe-fest type personas to genuine role-models and hard-as-nails professionals, Fighting With My Family will make even the biggest cynical skeptic of pro-wrestling appreciate the hardships they go through to get where they are. And no ones’ story is the better poster child for that than the Knight Family.

Supported by the likes of Nick Frost, Lena Headey and Jack Lowden as her quirky, but supportive family, the Bevis clan, renamed Knight for their wrestling personas, all create a real dynamic between themselves and each other, being able to glide in and out of both sentimentality and real laughs; especially between Frost and Headey as Paige’s dysfunctional parents. Originally chronicled in a documentary called “The Wrestlers: Fighting With My Family”, the film tells of Paige’s upbringings in small-town Norwich, wrestling her family in small pubs, promoting in fruit markets, and selling dodgy knock-off merchandise, to touring with the biggest wrestling company in the world, based out in Orlando and trying to deal with family pressure and feeling homesick.

Through Stephen Merchant’s fantastic directing and script, the pace at which the story unfolds never lets up a beat, and to be able to go from pulling at the heart strings to belly ache laughing is testament to his ability which showcases his further talent from his work on The Office and Extras. Throw in some solid support work from none other than Vince Vaughan and a handful of scenes with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and Fighting With My Family is a real surprise hit where it counts, especially Paige’s relationship with her down-trodden brother who also carries the same aspirational dreams she has, but can’t quite live up to expectation.

A modern working class hero tale from rags to riches whilst using the backdrop of sport and glory, it manages to shrug off the negative connotations and prove that films can be made around the sport of professional wrestling without mockery.

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