Movies about professional wrestling are not high on my “to watch” list — I’m not a fan — but I was drawn into the theater by the trailers. I was not disappointed. Well acted, Fighting With My Family is a well balanced comic blend of professional wrestling as entertainment, wrestling as business, and the clash between hopes and (dashed) dreams of those who long to be in its spotlight.“
Fighting With My Family is the story of the rise of Paige (Saraya Bevis played by Florence Pugh), a pioneering real-world female wrestler who rose from the working class city of Norwich, England to become one of professional wrestling most popular figures. She grows up with her brother Zak (Jack Lowden) in a wrestling family headed by their father Rowdy Ricky Knight (Nick Frost) and mother Sweet Saraya (Lena Headey). Their parents come from the world of hard knocks, barely scraping by. Ricky has been in an out of prison, and Saraya worked the streets until they found each other and wrestling. They settled down and now run a gym where they train young boys and girls in the art of wrestling as entertainment.
Zak and Paige dream of becoming WWE stars, enamoured with the celebrities, glitz, and glam of the show. However, they take the sport and the skills needed to be successful seriously. They send in tapes to WWE in the hopes of being selected for their world tour. Finally, Zak and Paige are selected to try out. Only Paige, however, seems to have “the spark” that WWE is looking for, triggering a family crisis that requires everyone to come to grips with lost hopes, crashing dreams, and digging deep to find out what really matters.
To the movie’s (and writer/director Stephen Merchant’s) credit, Fighting With My Family deals with the consequences for the entire family of Paige’s selection. Each has to find peace with an industry that is much more complex, sophisticated, and ruthless than they see on the flash of the television screen. At the same time, the movie honors WWE for what it brings (or doesn’t) to entertainment, sportsmanship, and athletics. Even those not enamoured with professional wrestling (such as me) will come away with a better appreciation for the sport.
The acting is well done, although Paige’s character arc is not as well defined as it might be. Florence Pugh and Jack Lowden bring real chemistry to the screen as siblings whose futures and identities are tightly woven together only to be ripped apart. While Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson also does a good turn as a celebrity mentor to Paige, his role seems a bit more forced into the story, calculated like the sport is highlights, to bring people in the door.
Overall, Fighting With My Family is a solid movie, although crass humor, crude sexual references, and mild profanity might be unsuitable for younger family members. It’s PG-13 for a reason.