Review: Fighting with My Family
Depicting the rise of real-life WWE Divas Champion Paige, Fighting with My Family is a not-so-guilty pleasure, a satisfying blend of sports flick and family drama powered by a great deal of heart and soul that will make you both wipe a tear or two from your eyes and stand up and cheer. That it should be brought to you by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who serves as one of the film's producers, is no surprise. That it is directed by Stephen Merchant, the gangly and self-deprecating co-creator of The Office, is.
Merchant's knack for sharp dialogue, throwaway banter, and rarely prioritising comedy at the expense of the character enrich what could have been a standard underdog story. Indeed, Merchant establishes this from the jump as we're introduced to the young Paige, born Saraya Bevis, tussling with older brother Zak as they fight for the remote control. Their parents, Rick and Julia (Nick Frost and Lena Headey), enter the scene and, instead of breaking them up, instruct Zak on how to make the chokehold more effective and Saraya on how to break out of it. Cut to a few years later, now competing under the names Britani Knight (Florence Pugh) and Zak Zodiac (Jack Lowden), the siblings put on wrestling matches and do their best to help their parents make ends meet. It's a hardscrabble life and, whilst Britani isn't as wholly invested in wrestling as the rest of her clan are, she does it because it's for the family.
Opportunity comes knocking for the siblings when they're invited to audition for the WWE, which has come to London to scout for local talent. At the audition, they encounter their idol, The Rock, who advises them that even though it's all made up, the crowd can sense when they're not being real. Be the first versions of yourselves, he says, don't try to be the next Rock or anyone else. Unfortunately for Zak, only Britani is invited to attend the NXT training program in Florida. Though she tells WWE trainer Hutch Morgan (Vince Vaughn) that she won't go without Zak, Zak reminds her that this is for the family and she can't let the family down.
As Zak remains in Norwich wallowing in the bitterness of disappointment, Britani finds herself unmoored in Florida. With her goth-tinged appearance and short stature, she feels out of place amongst the other taller and more conventionally sexy female candidates. Hutch's merciless training, which exposes her comparative lack of strength and inability to trash talk, only serves to compound her self-doubts. Pugh, who has been going from strength to strength in the last couple of years, perfectly embodies Britani's frustrated isolation and nearly detrimental defensiveness. Lowden, too, deserves plaudits for conveying Zak's plight without bathing in pathos.
Again, credit goes to Merchant for striking the right balance. The film is polished in execution, but Merchant maintains the narrative's quirky edges and deftly celebrates the Bevis' working-class roots without denigrating WWE's flashy excess and Britani's individualism without dehumanising or mocking her American counterparts. The beats may be familiar, but Merchant and Pugh in particular invest them with a freshness and energy that make Fighting with My Family a wonderful and heartfelt watch.
Fighting with My Family
Directed by: Stephen Merchant
Written by: Stephen Merchant
Starring: Florence Pugh, Jack Lowden, Lena Headey, Nick Frost, Vince Vaughn, Dwayne Johnson, James Burrows, Stephen Merchant
