Mark Reviews Movies: FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY

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Review by Mark Dujsik | February 24, 2019

One of the things that Fighting with My Family does right is to admit, up front, that professional wrestling isn't "fake" but is "fixed." The admission is surprising, if only because the film comes from the movie studio wing of the WWE, the world's most well-known professional wrestling company. The company figures prominently in this biographical story of one of its former employees/wrestlers/entertainers, who sees her dreams of fame and success come true. It's a nice ad for the wrestling franchise, but thankfully, the film is even a better story about how difficult it is to hold on to a dream in the face of cold, hard reality.

The subject is Saraya Knight (Florence Pugh, showing fearlessness in the ring and insecurity outside of it), a young woman from a struggling family in Norwich, England, who grew up knowing everything there is to know about wrestling. The walls of her bedroom are lined with posters of famous wrestlers, and she sleeps holding a plush doll of one of her favorites. In the ring, she calls herself Britani, and from the start of her career as a teenager, her matches usually have been against her older brother Zak (Jack Lowden), who dubs himself "Zak Zodiac" and also has aspirations to make it to the big time.

By the end of the film, Saraya is known as Paige, named after a character from her favorite non-wrestling TV show, and she'll become the youngest women's champion in WWE history. The fight to achieve that title feels a little meaningless, since the film tells us early and often that the sport is fixed, but that's not really the point. Far more important is the fact that she gets in the ring, stands and fights in front of a massive audience in the arena and watching on television, and actually puts forth her true self for the whole world to see. The ultimate goal here is less about a title belt and more about being comfortable with oneself—who you are, where you come from, who you want to be.

Getting the whole fake-fixed debate out of the way early does a couple of vital things. It allows us to understand just how physically demanding wrestling is. We know that fighters pull their punches/kicks/head-butts/everything else, but that also means a single mistake could be devastating. Certain things can't be pulled, either, such as flips and slams and hits with props like street signs or bowling balls. Watching this story unfold with the knowledge of what's real and what isn't quite real gives us an appreciation for the physicality of these fighters, as well as how intense training to become a wrestler must be.

It also allows the real story, not the invented soap opera of who will win a given match, more room to breathe. Saraya and Zak are the younger children of Ricky (Nick Frost) and Julia (Lena Headey). Together, the entire family runs the World Association of Wrestling out of a local gym. The kids are the stars of the show, while the parents oversee the business side—and occasionally get in the ring, too.

Almost all of them, save for Saraya, have had difficulties. Ricky is an ex-con, who was in prison for "mostly violence," and Julia was homeless and addicted to drugs for a while. The eldest son Roy (James Burrows) is currently in prison, and Zak has had his troubles with the law, too. Wrestling, the family is wont to say, saved their lives.

The family has sent a tape of the younger children wrestling to the WWE, and eventually, the company invites Saraya and Zak to audition before an upcoming show in England. Saraya is selected to go on to training in Florida, but Zak is not.

There's the obvious path that this story could take, in which the rest of the film follows Saraya's inevitable rise to success, but instead, writer/director Stephen Merchant finds room for the other, less inspiring side of the traditional finding-fame narrative. While Saraya trains under a no-nonsense WWE coach named Hutch (Vince Vaughn) and has difficulty fitting in with the other pro wrestling hopefuls, Zak remains in Norwich, waiting to become a father and, after failing to accomplish his dream, losing interest in wrestling.

The juxtaposition of these two, complementary stories means that each one enriches the other. The seemingly straightforward narrative of Saraya training, enduring physical challenges, and learning that she doesn't have to be an outsider has a greater impact, because we're also watching, through Zak's side of the story, how her opportunity is as much a matter of luck as it is of hard work. Meanwhile, Saraya's climb offers a reason to understand Zak's bitterness, as he can't see a meaning for his life outside of the missed opportunity to fulfill his dream.

For every Paige or Dwayne Johnson (who appears as himself to offer helpful advice and give good news to the up-and-comer in a couple of scenes), there's also at least a Zak Zodiac and a Hutch, who tells the story of his failed wrestling career as if he wasn't a participant in it—the memory of that life so far removed from where he is now (Vaughn is quite good here). The shared narrative between the siblings is their gradual acceptance and embracing of their shortcomings and failures. The only difference is the size of the stage on which that recognition is ultimately realized.

Fighting with My Family could have been an overly familiar and formulaic tale. Because the film cares about both of these characters, though, it is, instead, a bittersweet one about dreams hard-won and dreams hard-fought but lost.

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