Brawl in the family
Plenty of family comedies include some grappling, but there’s just one I can think of that boasts a piledriver.
That’s “Fighting With My Family,” the warm new biopic about WWE wrestler Paige, who grew up in Norwich, England, in a wrestling clan: her mum, dad and brother all make a pound by professionally pounding.
And, although the film is about Paige’s unlikely rise to TV stardom, what grabs us most is the eclectic Knights running a wrestling gym on a shoestring. Her parents are Rowdy Ricky Knight (Nick Frost) and Sweet Saraya (Lena Headey). They earn a living by teaching wrestling to neighborhood outsiders — their son Zak Zodiac (Jack Lowden) handles the lessons — and selling tickets to fixed, theatrical matches.
The kids’ dream is to break out of their small town and join the WWE like the Rock (who briefly appears). Ricky and Saraya expect Zak to do just that, but when scouts come to London, they’re smitten with 19-year-old Paige (Florence Pugh).
After a moment of hesitation, she tells Hutch Morgan (Vince Vaughn) that she’ll gladly jet off to Florida and try out for the big gig, the WWE.
The real fight here becomes more emotional than physical: Paige feeling that she’s betrayed her family by pursuing personal goals; Zak coming to terms with the death of his childhood dream; and Ricky and Saraya trying to keep a small business afloat.
With Paige, Pugh adroitly tackles another punchy character after her acclaimed turn as Lady Macbeth. Even better is Lowden, who really gets how allconsuming suburban malaise can be for a guy who’s just starting out. It’s also nice to see Headey, famous for playing the evil Queen Cersei on “Game of Thrones,” get to play a loving, thoughtful mom. OK, a mom whose signature move is called the “Facebuster.”
Running time: 108 minutes. Rated PG-13 (crude and sexual material, language, violence and drugs). Now playing. — Johnny Oleksinski