Directed by: Stephen Merchant
Runtime: 108 minutes
Okay, so I have a confession to make: as a kid, and even now as an adult, I never really ‘got’ wrestling. Is it theatre? Is it sport? Is it funny? Is it serious? Is it fake? Is it real? In truth, it could likely be all of these things at once; however, as a cultural phenomenon, it’s also clear to me that wrestling means more to some people than life itself. At the premiere screening for Fighting with My Family, I watched on as eager crowds waited in line to take selfies with amateur wrestlers playfully bouncing around a display ring outside the cinema. Before the screening itself, a studio representative encouraged people in the front rows to get up and scream their own rendition of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s famous catchphrase—“If you smellllllll (*tongue flick*), what THE ROCK, is cooking!”—to enthusiastic cheers and applause. What exactly are these culinary delights that The Rock speaks of with such gusto? I still don’t know and I suspect that’s part of the allure.
Fighting with My Family attempts to peel back the veil of mystery surrounding wrestling culture by focusing on the true story of Saraya-Jade Bevis (known by her ring-name as “Paige”), an English professional wrestler who rose from obscurity in her quaint, working-class hometown of Norwich to become an international WWE superstar and NXT Women’s Champion. Paige (Florence Pugh) and her brother Zak (Jack Lowden) have spent their childhood years obsessed with wrestling as a way of life, encouraged in great part by their former-wrestler parents. After years toiling away in their family’s amateur wrestling league in Norwich, Paige and Zak finally get a shot at the big-time and have an opportunity to try out for the WWE in London. However, when only Paige makes it through to a lucrative NXT training program in Florida, she’s forced to leave her family behind and decide if she has what it takes to make it in the world of international wrestling.
Based on a 2012 documentary by director Max Fisher entitled The Wrestlers: Fighting with My Family, this feature adaptation was written and directed by The Office co-creator Stephen Merchant with Johnson executive producing, and is pitched as a ‘biographical sports comedy-drama’ film. As it turns out, watching the film becomes somewhat of a meta-study on how those individual elements intersect. With this as his feature directorial debut, Merchant sticks firmly to what he does best and frames the Bevis family themselves as an off-beat collective of unique and relatable people, and in turn, this focus on character and internecine drama—as the title of the film suggests—becomes the core strength that drives the narrative. In terms of casting and delivery, the performances here are extraordinary and turn otherwise middling scenes of exposition and emotional beats into laugh-out-loud gags and a slew of heart-warming moments.
Pugh and Lowden have real charisma and chemistry as a sister-brother combo forced to compete for their shared dream of success and superstardom. Likewise, in their roles as mother and father to the wrestling siblings, Lena Headey and Nick Frost do an excellent job of bringing a sense of comic relief and endearing compassion to an otherwise eccentric family dynamic. Many of the film’s laughs stem from their quick wit, lively banter and their effort to use wrestling as a tool for empowerment and self-confidence among the disenfranchised youth of their local Norwich community.
After a strong first act, Fighting with My Family moves into the sports section of the narrative, with Paige leaving the comfort of their family for Florida, filled with starry-eyed ambition and a healthy dose of naivety. The film tries admirably to set up real tension and stakes here, even if the tropes and conventions of a ‘rags to riches’ biopic already dictate where the story needs to go. There’s some internal cat-fighting and superficial bitchiness among Paige and her rivals, which immediately flags itself as a soon-to-be moral lesson on not judging books by covers. There’s also the ‘cruel to be kind’ coach (played to perfection by Vince Vaughn, echoing his exemplary performance as a sharp-tongued boot-camp instructor in the criminally-underrated Hacksaw Ridge) who pushes our contender to near breaking point, alongside the already-successful mentor who arrives at opportune moments with sage-like wisdom (played by Johnson as himself, which also leads to some amusing self-referential lines).
Where the film ultimately suffers is in its predictable third act. For the sake of stream-lining, Merchant has taken certain narrative liberties with the timeline of Paige’s on-screen success, in comparison to her real life counterpart, which leaves the inevitable conclusion of the film feeling rushed and maladroit. While I’m sure no one watching the film really doubts the fact that they’re watching a story which will conclude with Paige overcoming her obstacles and becoming a champion on her own terms, the film still bypasses much of the necessary connective tissue which would make that success feel earned and logically consistent. However, let’s be clear: this is wrestling we’re talking about, so forsaking logic for entertainment seems to be inherent to the whole process.
As a curious aside, there’s a moment towards the end of Fighting with My Family where Merchant’s direction cleverly mashes up real-life footage of Wrestlemania matches within interstices of scenes from the film, shot at a real WWE Raw event in Los Angeles. This, to my mind, functions (purposefully or otherwise) as an interesting meta-commentary on the roles of identity, acting and the nature of performance itself, especially within the hyper-real, larger-than-life context of the WWE. Watching the final match play out, I became suddenly cognizant of the fact that Pugh was playing the persona of “Paige,” who she performs within her character of Saraya Knight, who is based on the real-life persona of “Paige,” who was performed in real-life by Saraya Bevis—all in front of real wrestling fans, who could quite possibly have witnessed the original match being re-enacted right in front of them.
Overall, Fighting with My Family is a powerful, uplifting film, bolstered by a heart-warming true story, stellar performances and a deep respect for the passion behind wrestling as a sport, sub-culture and a way of life for so many dedicated fans. While it can often feel like an expensive exercise in shiny propaganda for the WWE, you’ll be too busy laughing your head off and rooting for the underdog to think about it.
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