Fighting with My Family

Fighting with My Family is a 2019 biographical sports comedy-drama film written and directed by Stephen Merchant. Based on the 2012 documentary The Wrestlers: Fighting with My Family by Max Fisher, it depicts the career of English professional wrestler Paige as she makes her way up WWE, while also following her brother Zak Zodiac, as he struggles with his failure to achieve similar success. Florence Pugh and Jack Lowden star as Paige and Zodiac respectively, alongside Lena Headey, Nick Frost, Vince Vaughn, and Dwayne Johnson, with the latter also acting as producer.

Fighting with My Family
Theatrical release poster
Directed byStephen Merchant
Produced by
Screenplay byStephen Merchant
Based onThe Wrestlers: Fighting with My Family
by Max Fisher
Starring
Music by
CinematographyRemi Adefarasin
Edited byNancy Richardson
Production
company
Distributed byLionsgate UK
(United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
(United States, through joint venture with Annapurna Pictures)
Universal Pictures
(International)
Release date
  • 28 January 2019 (2019-01-28) (Sundance)
  • 14 February 2019 (2019-02-14) (United States)
  • 27 February 2019 (2019-02-27) (United Kingdom)
Running time
108 minutes
Country
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$11 million[1]
Box office$41.5 million[2][3]

The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on 28 January 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on 14 February 2019. It received positive reviews from critics, particularly for the performances of Pugh and Vaughn. It was also a commercial success, grossing $41.5 million worldwide against a budget of $11 million.

Plot

In 2005, in Norwich, England, 11-year-old Zak Knight is engrossed by the WWF (now WWE) King of the Ring pay-per-view event until his younger sister Saraya changes channel to her favorite program, Charmed. The siblings wrestle, urged on by parents Rick and Julia. Rick books the children for their first wrestling match where Saraya, initially reluctant to wrestle a boy, wins as planned.

At 18, competing under the ring name “Britani Knight”, Saraya and her brother “Zak Zodiac” help their parents train prospective wrestlers while working toward their own promotion. Rick and Julia, struggling financially, ask WWE trainer Hutch Morgan to sign the siblings. He finally agrees to a tryout before a SmackDown taping at The O2 Arena, and tells Saraya to find a different name as they "already have a Britani". The siblings receive advice from Dwayne Johnson, and Saraya adopts the name Paige from her favorite Charmed character.

The two try out with several other wrestlers and are all belittled by Morgan. He ultimately chooses Paige over the rest, despite her attempt to have Zak signed too. With his encouragement, Paige leaves for America while Zak continues wrestling on the British independent circuit, assisting his parents’ wrestling school, and tending to his girlfriend and newborn son.

Arriving at NXT in Florida, Paige has difficulty adjusting to the WWE style – chiefly, the absence of intergender competition and the inexperience of her fellow trainees Jeri-Lynn, Kirsten, and Maddison. Paige struggles with performing promos and Morgan's constant belittlement. Morgan makes it clear to Zak that he will never be signed to WWE, and Zak falls into a depression. Paige discovers her parents are selling merchandise of her without her permission and have booked her in a match against Zak scheduled for her Christmas break.

At an NXT live event and her in-ring debut, Paige is heckled by the crowd and freezes, leaving the ring in tears. She decides to bleach her hair and spray tan to look more like other trainees, which only causes more friction. After failing an obstacle course, Paige lashes out at the trainees for gossiping about her when they were actually discussing Kirsten, who has been away from her daughter to give her a better life.

Morgan tells Paige that her brother's future in WWE would only have been as enhancement talent and signing would have ruined his life, implying that it did the same to him. Morgan encourages Paige to quit and return to her family for a happier life. She travels home for the Christmas break. Just before the match against her brother, Paige tells Zak she is leaving WWE. Angry that she is giving up the dream he failed to achieve, Zak goes off-script, defeats Paige and then tells their parents her plans to quit, devastating Ricky. After the family find Zak in a drunken bar fight, Paige admits that Morgan declined to sign Zak to protect him and he needs to focus on what is important in life; his family and coaching children who look up to him. Paige changes her mind after Zak berates her for abandoning their shared dream, and she returns to Florida, resuming her original hair color and skin tone.

She drastically improves in training, befriending and encouraging her fellow trainees. Zak returns to training his parents’ students. Morgan brings the trainees to WrestleMania XXX, where Paige is booked in a suite with The Rock and learns she will make her Raw debut the following night against WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee, as recommended by Morgan. Paige makes her Raw debut and again freezes, but Lee starts the match and unexpectedly puts the Divas Championship on the line. With her family watching on TV, Paige wins the match and the title, finally comfortable enough to say a promo, "This is MY house!".

Cast

Additionally, WWE wrestlers Big Show, Sheamus and The Miz make appearances as themselves, while an uncredited actor played John Cena. Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, and John Layfield provide commentary on the Paige vs. AJ Lee match. Several other WWE wrestlers (including Cena himself), as well as the real Knight family, appear in archival footage throughout the film.

Production

On 7 February 2017, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Dwayne Johnson and Stephen Merchant had teamed with WWE Studios and Film4 to produce a film based on the life of Saraya "Paige" Bevis, a professional wrestler with the WWE.[4] Merchant would write and direct the film, while Johnson would cameo in the film and executive produce. In the days after the announcement, the main cast was revealed: Florence Pugh as Saraya,[5] Jack Lowden as Saraya's brother Zak, and Lena Headey and Nick Frost as their parents.[6] Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquired the distribution rights on 10 February for US$17.5 million.[7] On 14 February, Johnson announced that Vince Vaughn had been cast, and filming would commence the following day.[8][9] In-ring scenes were filmed after WWE Raw on 20 February at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.[10][11] Filming also took place around Bracknell, specifically the Harmans Water area, Norwich, England, with locations around the city used in the film, as well as the coastal town of Great Yarmouth.[12][13]

Historical accuracy

Like many Hollywood-backed biographical films, the film took several liberties with Paige's journey with WWE. Paige's time in NXT was kept minimal with no mention of her reign as NXT Women's Champion, and several characters were fictional, including Hutch Morgan. Additionally, Paige had previously failed a WWE tryout before being successful in another. Johnson himself never met Paige (or any of the Bevis/Knight family) until seeing the original documentary in 2012, unlike the film's fictionalized portrayal of Johnson meeting Paige and Zak backstage of a WWE event in England; Johnson himself had just returned to WWE in 2011 after a seven-year absence when Paige signed with WWE in April 2011.[14]

Release

Fighting with My Family premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival on 28 January. It was released in the United States on 14 February 2019, in four theatres in Los Angeles and New York,[15] and expanded to a wide release on 22 February 2019. It was released on 27 February 2019 in the United Kingdom.[16][17]

Reception

Box office

Fighting with My Family grossed $23 million in the United States and Canada, and $18.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $41.5 million, against a production budget of $11 million.[2][3]

In its limited opening weekend, Fighting with My Family made $162,567 from four theaters over the four-day President's Day weekend.[15] The film expanded to 2,711 theaters the following weekend and made $2.6 million on its first Friday wide, including $450,000 from Thursday night previews, and went on to gross $8 million for the weekend, finishing fourth at the box office.[18] In its second weekend of wide release, the film made $4.7 million, dropping 40% and finishing seventh.[19]

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 93% based on 227 reviews, with an average rating of 7.23/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Much like the sport it celebrates, Fighting with My Family muscles past clichés with a potent blend of energy and committed acting that should leave audiences cheering."[20] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 68 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews."[21] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an overall positive score of 83% and a 57% "definite recommend."[18]

Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com opined in a three-out-of-four star review: "Even though Fighting with My Family is undoubtedly about branding the WWE as a fantasy factory, its biggest strengths are its wit and surprisingly big heart."[22]

References
  1. Keegan, Rebecca (4 February 2019). ""We Wanted a Studio to Buy Into It, And No One Did": Why Dwayne Johnson Went Indie for His New Movie". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  2. "Fighting with My Family (2019)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  3. "Fighting With My Family (2019)". The Numbers. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  4. Ford, Rebecca; Ritman, Alex (7 February 2017). "Dwayne Johnson Gets in the Ring for 'Fighting With My Family' Wrestling Film (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 16 February 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  5. Shoard, Catherine (8 February 2017). "Stephen Merchant to direct Dwayne Johnson in female wrestling drama". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 6 March 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  6. Fleming Jr., Mike (9 February 2017). "Lena Headey & Nick Frost Join Dwayne Johnson In 'Fighting With My Family'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 15 February 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  7. Lodderhose, Diana; Fleming Jr., Mike (11 February 2017). "MGM Headlocks World Rights To 'Fighting With My Family' In $17.5M Deal: Berlin". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  8. Kroll, Justin (14 February 2017). "Vince Vaughn Joins Dwayne Johnson's 'Fighting With My Family'". Variety. Archived from the original on 18 January 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  9. Makuch, Eddie (15 February 2017). "The Rock's WWE Paige Biopic Adds A Big-Name Actor". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2 December 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  10. Meltzer, Dave (20 February 2017). "The Rock at Raw for filming of 'Fighting with my Family'". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Archived from the original on 11 April 2018. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  11. Goldman, Eric (21 February 2017). "The Rock evokes CM Punk and AJ Lee in a big way for crowd at WWE show". IGN. Archived from the original on 22 February 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  12. "Great Yarmouth Mercury". Great Yarmouth Mercury.
  13. Pochin, Courtney (4 April 2017). "Filming for The Rock's Fighting With My Family to finish in Great Yarmouth". Great Yarmouth Mercury. Archived from the original on 11 April 2018. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  14. "Paige Explains How Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson First Approached Her To Make "Fighting With My Family"". Wrestling Inc. 23 February 2019.
  15. D'Alessandro, Anthony (17 February 2019). "'Alita' Battles Her Way To $41M+ 5-Day, But Remains Far From Heaven At The B.O." Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  16. D'Alessandro, Anthony (11 January 2019). "Dwayne Johnson & Dany Garcia's Seven Bucks/MGM Pic 'Fighting With My Family' Making World Premiere At Sundance As Surprise Screening". Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  17. McNary, Dave (27 April 2018). "Dwayne Johnson's Wrestling Drama 'Fighting With My Family' Moved Back to 2019". Variety. Archived from the original on 28 April 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  18. D'Alessandro, Anthony (22 February 2018). "'How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World' Fires Up $3M On Thursday". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  19. D'Alessandro, Anthony (3 March 2019). "'Dragon 3' Keeps The Fire Burning At No. 1 With $30M Second Weekend; 'Madea' Mints $27M". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  20. "Fighting with My Family (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  21. "Fighting with My Family reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  22. Allen, Nick. "Fighting with My Family Movie Review (2019)". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
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