Play it to the Bone

Cast :

Director/Writer: Ron Shelton 

There must be a great script for a boxing movie on the floor of Ron Shelton’s house. The man who has turned his keen eye and wit onto baseball, and golf, attempts to analyze the pugilistic world in his latest effort, Play it to The Bone.  Unfortunately, it appears the best parts of his film ended up somewhere else, other than in the movie. 

Banderas and Harrelson are two over the hill boxers, living in L.A., reliving past glories and failures, and hoping for just one more shot at the big time.  When the under card of a major fight comes open, via bad circumstances, the two get their once-in-a-lifetime shot.  They embark on a road trip to Vegas, despite being offered plane tickets, since that would have made for a very short movie.  The usual road trip devices come into play.  There is fighting, making up, flashing back, the obligatory hitchhiker (Liu) and of course revelations about the upcoming event.  The trip is a completely wasted story idea, because it is unnecessary, hence everything that results because of it seems shallow and pointless.

This film is like a boxer that just doesn’t know when to quit.  The punches keep coming, it gets knocked down, but keeps rising back up, weaker each time it does.  The script is weakly written. Shelton falls victim to the very devices and cliché’s, which he usually rises above, and even mocks.  This is a painful fall for the scribe of the classic Bull Durham “I Believe” speech.

The characters are poorly developed and uninteresting.  The chemistry between Harrelson and Banderas is forced upon us, and never believable.  Davidovich bounces between the two inconsistently, while Liu’s purpose is never explained.  Even Sizemore and Wagner, both given chances to overact and spoof to the hilt, seem to be chewing scenery, and spouting lines that apparently they cant even believe they were forced to say.

The only saving grace to the whole movie is the conclusion in the ring, where the scenes are well executed and realistic in nature.  Unfortunately, like a long family vacation, the end comes nowhere close to justifying the means.  Is there a tale to be told about the boxing profession, yes.  Is this it?  Not even close.  It lacks the skewering edge, the intelligent introspect, and ultimately, the heart, which is required both to win a boxing match, and make a great movie.

The final scenes in the ring are very well done.  They are hard to watch from a physical standpoint, but did not have the effect that Shelton wanted, due to the fact that there is no compassion for the two.  The friendship is not believable, the past failures seem too hokey to still be haunting, and basically, we are given no reason to like, or believe in these two.  Had that been done, had these characters been people whom we cared about, the finale could have definitely been powerful.  As it is now, the ending serves to only show what great potential existed, and how it was so badly fumbled and squandered by sloppy writing and direction.

Ultimately, Play It to The Bone appears to be Shelton’s mental vacation in between masterpieces.  Every great director has one, Stone had his U-Turn, Lynch had Lost Highway, and Spielberg had The Lost World.  Now that this is over with, how Shelton answers the next cinematic bell is key to his progression as a filmmaker.  Past history is on his side, but this is a definite stumble, and film that should have never answered the first bell. ($ out of $$$$)

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