The daughter of a trainer, all Jackie Kallen ever wanted was to be apart of the boxing wanted. She grew up skipping rope in a downtown Detroit gym alongside her uncle, a fighter himself. Now, at 36, Jackie's ready to carry on the family tradition. Trying to make her mark in the boxing world, Jackie spends a lot of her free time working the room at D'Agostino's, a pugs and thugs hangout known for its stiff drinks and bloody steaks. After drinks with Cleveland's local hotshot TV sportscaster, Gavin Reese, Jackie ends up in a verbal sparring match with the Midwest's boxing kingpin, Sam LaRocca. Just to belittle her, he sells her the contract of one of his fighters for a dollar... and that's just about what Devon Greene is worth. It turns out Devon's more interested in smoking crack than boxing. But Jackie's dollar ends up being well spent anyway. When she goes to Devon's apartment to introduce herself as his new manager, she arrives just as his drug dealer's enforcer, Luther Shaw, is beating him up. Instantly, she recognizes that it is Luther, not Devon, who has the potential to be her champion. Bailing Luther out of jail, Jackie convinces him to pursue boxing and to let her be his manager. Then, with the help of Felix Reynolds, a veteran trainer whom she coaxes out of retirement, Jackie turns Luther from a jail-bound punk into a streamlined prizefighter... and at the same time, turns herself into one of the most successful female managers in boxing history. But it could all come crumbling down as her head grows to big and she forgets why she wanted to do achieve the success in the first place.

It’s hard not to be drawn into a movie that promotes the underdog beating all odds to come out on top, especially if that story is based on a true story. We all love underdogs and it’s the reason there are so many movies out there with that as their theme but what makes this movie special and a cut above the rest, is that also does not forget to tell a great story with plenty of character development. But I think a lot of that is due to the fact that it is a true story and you can see all the hurdles that Jackie had to overcome to become respected in a sport that until then was completely male dominated. Meg Ryan does a wonderful job of portraying Jackie as you can root for her and she makes you apart of the story drawing you into the uphill climb to beat all obstacles. And while Ryan is great Omar Epps is only good that is the one downside. He has played the street tough to many times and while this part called for that once again you also wanted him to show some emotional and acting range as well. It’s ok though because Meg Ryan makes and breaks the movie and in this case she absolutely makes it, as the movie is enthralling and very entertaining. You will find yourself once again rooting for the underdog as the movie takes you once more on that ride and will walk away from the movie feeling entertained and satisfied.
4 stars out of 5