Christy

Grade: B

It’s difficult for me to refer to Christy’s title character as Christy Martin, considering what she was put through when she had that last name. If you know, you know. But that’s how she is most recognized. Christy Martin rose to fame as America’s best-known female boxer in the mid-90s. She tied the knot with her coach, Jim Martin, in a true marriage of convenience. One of the things he did to keep her from leaving him is threaten to smear her name all over the media if she ever thought about running away. By this, he meant revealing her true sexuality to the world. These days, that might make you think “So?” – but back then, it, unfortunately, could hurt a career. Or so people were trained to believe.

We meet Christy Salters in 1989, playing college basketball. She enters a local female boxing competition and wins. Her skills impress many, and she falls under the wing of Jim Martin, from whom she receives formal training for the first time. Before she knows it, she is signed with a certain famous boxing manager with wild hair, and becomes a household name – fighting all over the country and mostly undefeated. The perils of notoriety, a tendency toward uncontrollable trash talking at press conferences, pressure from her so-called husband to do cocaine to stay sharp, and hiding her relationships with women from her homophobic family take over and take their tolls.

As the title role, Sydney Sweeney, once again, does powerful, effective work in yet another movie that doesn’t deserve to be flopping at the box office like it is. She seems to be drinking the Tuck Everlasting water, as she doesn’t age much in the 20+ years it takes place, but she carries it, without falling into most of the biopicky traps. You will hate Ben Foster as Jim Martin, and that is a compliment and testament to his work. It’s easy to forget that these intense, abusive combat sequences need professional, committed actors who work well together, and can check in with each other while rehearsing. It’s interesting to stop, think about that, and admire the craft. I had the same thought while watching the scenes between Sean Penn and Chase Infiniti in One Battle After Another.

Jim is currently serving a 25 year prison sentence. I don’t think that’s long enough for him. 25 years ago, it was 2000. Doesn’t it feel like just a couple years ago? I knew, going in, he was abusive, but I had no idea he would do what he does. Not knowing the story beforehand, the turn it takes 75% of the way through had my jaw drop. Had this been a fictional movie, I’d most certainly be dinging it for a lack of realism. Even knowing it really happened, it’s still hard to believe. Christy is based on a true story, and it’s a great one – well-done and worth seeing.

Grade: B