Wrestling comedy that exerts a strong hold
Odd couples are a staple of filmed comedy – in front of the camera, at least. But it’s hard to recall a stranger backstage pairing than the one that brought Fighting With My Family to life. This rags-to-riches heart-warmer is the solo directorial debut of The Office’s Stephen Merchant and a production of World Wrestling Entertainment, the Florida-based sports franchise. The common denominator is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who thought of Merchant to write and direct after having worked with him on the 2010 comedy Tooth Fairy. At 6ft 5in and 18.5st, Johnson is the kind of man you humour, but Merchant is an inspired choice for this vigorously funny underdog romp in The Full Monty mould.
Inspired by a Channel 4 documentary from 2012, it follows the Norwich-born wrestler Saraya-jade Bevis on the long road from the East Anglia town hall circuit to the stage of the New Orleans Arena, where she makes her WWE Raw debut bout under the stage name Paige. Johnson makes a handful of brief but very funny cameo appearances, but the unquestionable star is Florence Pugh, who is superb in yet another hard-topitch lead role. The Lady Macbeth and Little Drummer Girl star proves a natural at the verbal fluffs and faux pas that are a hallmark of Merchant’s comedy, while persuasively selling Paige’s ongoing internal tug-of-war between ambition and self-doubt. In fact, the whole cast clicks with a satisfying thunk, from Jack Lowden as Paige’s elder brother Zak, himself an aspiring WWE star, to Nick Frost and Lena Headey as her heroically uncouth parents, Ricky and Julia, who run the World Association of Wrestling out of a local gym, and have been known to resort to sub-legal sources of income when cash is tight.
Still, the family has wrestling in their blood: “Like hepatitis,” Zak observes, with noted ambivalence. This kind of wry self-sabotage after the fact is one of Merchant’s secret weapons, and one of the reasons Fighting With My Family slips so nimbly under your defences. His script embraces all the underdog clichés, but punctures each of them seconds after use, then lets us enjoy watching them thrrrrp back down to earth. This suits the overcast mundanity of the Norwich scenes, but is equally effective when the film decamps to the WWE’S training centre in sundrenched Florida, after Paige catches the eye of a talent scout (Vince Vaughn) at a London casting call. Here Paige’s pasty complexion, markettown goth aesthetic and, above all, her Norfolk accent are exotic novelties.
Merchant is obviously more comfortable directing comedy than wrestling, but the film’s unglamorous look helps undercut its fairy-tale elements, and also saves Paige’s family from being romanticised as struggling left-behinds or caricatured as grifting chavs. Instead, they’re four real, recognisable people, with a comic edge and an easy, worn-in chemistry that’s a delight to behold.