Maybe I don’t want to feel good. Of all the stripes of movies that get theatrical releases, the second-tier “feel-good” movies are the most mysterious: why did someone want to spend a year of their life and 104 minutes of mine making a Cork-set film about an Irish-American bare-knuckle boxer (Michael Madsen) who kills a friend in the ring and who breaks a vow to his dead wife not to fight again so that he can raise the money to help his young son who’s stricken with the same disease that felled her? Writer-director Mark Mahon doesn’t answer the question. With Vinnie Jones as his adversary, “Smasher O’Driscoll” and Richard Chamberlain (!) as his coach. Likeable actors, all. And that is all. Winner of Best Picture at the Boston Film Festival. 104m. Anamorphic 2.40 widescreen. (Ray Pride)
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