Fighting with My Family (2019)

Director: Stephen Merchant

Genre: Biography, Comedy, Drama

Runtime: 108 Minutes

Main Cast: Florence Pugh, Nick Frost, Lena Headey, Dwayne Johnson, Jack Lowden, Vince Vaughn, Stephen Merchant

Plot: Saraya Knight was born into a wrestling family. Her family perform wrestling shows across the country and even run their own wrestling school. Saraya and her brother Zak get the opportunity to try out for the WWE but troubles start when only Saraya is picked. Based on the true story of UK-wrestler Paige.

My Thoughts: I’m not a wrestling fan at all but I’m a sucker for Dwayne Johnson and I love British comedies, so I was really looking forward to seeing Fighting with My Family. As it turned out, despite a couple of cameos that didn’t mean anything to me, you don’t need to be a wrestling fan to enjoy this great little movie!

I think it was marketed as a pure comedy, but it actually has a lot of depth to it. I wouldn’t say it’s as perfect as Little Miss Sunshine, but it’s got that vibe for sure. When the movie is quite serious most of the time, it makes those few comedic moments that much funnier, and I laughed out loud quite a few times during this one. Stephen Merchant both wrote and directed this movie, and he did a fantastic job.

Dwayne Johnson only has a few scenes but they’re great moments. Vince Vaughn was a delight too! I don’t think I’ve seen him since he was the coach/captain/whatever in Hacksaw Ridge, and he’s back as a coach here. Nick Frost is as funny as you would expect him to be and Cersei Lannister Lena Headey is almost unrecognisable as a rock-chick come wrestler. And that’s just the supporting cast!

2019 is turning out to be quite a pleasant surprise so far for movies, I really hope the trend continues!

Best Bit: The scene at the family dinner table where Saraya’s family were doing their best to be polite was brilliant. It was British humour at it’s finest. That and the end credits had me in stitches!

Worst Bit: Saraya and Zak’s brother seemed like a completely unnecessary character to me. All he did was be released from prison and give some advice to Zak, and that was about it. I thought he might end up dragging Zak further down when he started to spiral out of control, but it never got that dark.

Fun Trivia: Dwayne Johnson was filming Fast & Furious 6 (2013) in the UK when he discovered the 2012 Channel 4 documentary “The Wrestlers: Fighting with My Family” on TV in his hotel room about a crazy English family of wrestlers. The ‘underdog’ aspect of it instantly appealed to him, prompting him to contact British writer Stephen Merchant about developing the story into a feature-length biopic.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 monster truck tyres that I sure as hell couldn’t flip over multiple times like those badass ladies did.