It is a comedy story that is derived from reality and is spoken of as the son of Big and her brother Zack. It seems that Wald and Zack were living in a famous wrestling family. Zack and Paige get a chance to enter the world of wrestling and both seem to be very happy. When Paige only gets a place in a competitive training program, things seem to be different where a boy should go through that experiment alone and leave the family and go into a new challenge.
Fighting with My Family is as likable as it is generic. Pugh's performance is the best thing about the movie but the story, despite Merchant's comedic flourishes, feels stale at times.
A certain airbrushed quality pervades but, like wrestling itself, the key is probably just to accept the hokum and focus on the charm whipped up by Merchant and his cast.
Pugh is a winning heroine, real and flawed, acting on instinct out of the ring when within it she knows the scripted moves intimately. Though the standout is Lowden's sensitive portrayal of her brother Zak, forced to craft a different kind of dream.
Writer-director Stephen Merchant (cocreator of The Office) gives the potentially shopworn material a heartfelt zest by making the story as gritty and funny as it is inspirational.
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.
There are few shocks along the way... but all the obligatory ups and downs are given decent weight by Pugh, as well as Nick Frost and Lena Headey as her beyond-the-mat parents. And for most of the film's run-time, that's enough.
If you want a good laugh, you'll find it here. If you want some Rocky-style physical exertion, you'll get your fill. Even if you're not all that interested in pro wrestling, the serious talent has a solid chance of winning you over anyway.
Despite a great real-life background story, and despite comedy master Stephen Merchant being at the helm as writer-director, this movie never really comes off.
