The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

The movie focuses to Jackie Kallen(Meg Ryan), a Jewish girl from Detroit, a secretary plenty of wide dreams. After a stake with a famous commissioner(Tony Shalhoub)she becomes a boxing promoter of a young boxer(Omar Epps).Then she hires a retired coach(Charles S. Dutton) for training the inexperienced boxer.Although is a fictional story is based on true events referred by United States's most noted boxing manager. In addition, are narrated her relationship with the tough boxer, her fight to survive into boxing world, a sport strongly dominated by male sex. It's developed with humor, love and a little bit of drama. The casting is frankly excellent, a sympathetic though selfish Meg Ryan, a two-fisted but sensible Omar Epps, today well known as the doctor in ¨House¨, such as Tony Shaloub by ¨Monk¨series; furthermore Jose Cortese and Tim Daly(son of James Daly and brother of Tyne Daly) as a sports reporter. The motion picture packs an enjoyable cinematography by Jack N. Greene( Clint Eastwood's usual cameraman) and catching soundtrack by Michael Kamen(Weapon Lethal, Die hard). The movie is professionally directed by usually actor Charles S Dutton in his first movie, he has followed directing television movies. Rating : Acceptable and entertaining . The film will like to Meg Ryan fans and boxing buffs but displays nice combats.

Meg Ryan is a bona fide movie star and a damn good actress and she would have to be to make a boxing film full of clichés watchable but she does that here. I'm not exactly recommending this for others but without Ryan in the starring role would anyone have even the most remote idea of viewing this? Story is (very loosely) based on the first lady of boxing Jackie Kallen (Ryan) who was brought up around the sport by her father and has always dreamed of managing and steering a fighter to the championship.*****SPOILER ALERT***** One day (by accident) she notices a young man named Luther Shaw (Omar Epps) who beats up two drug thugs without help and Jackie thinks she has a winner on her hands but it takes some doing to convince him to give boxing a go. Jackie asks the help from long time trainer Felix Reynolds (Charles S. Dutton) who guides Luther into the pro ranks and teaches him the finer points of the fight game but when Luther starts winning his bouts in spectacular fashion Jackie starts getting as much attention (or more) as her fighter. The boxing scene in the Midwest is controlled by Cleveland promoter Sam LaRocca (Tony Shalhoub) who tries everything he can to stop her but since he owns the Middleweight Champion of the World a big fight between the champ and Luther is inevitable. Because she's an attractive woman Jackie becomes a mini-celebrity and starts spending too much time away from the gym and Luther himself who eventually starts to resent her.This is directed by Dutton himself who has dabbled in directing before but this is (to date) his biggest project and while I sure won't mistake his talent for Spielberg's I think he still shows that he can handle smaller productions. Besides the obvious clichés that seem to haunt a lot of boxing flicks I think what goes wrong here is that they didn't stay true to the source of the material because the real Kallen has had a pretty interesting life. Kallen help guide the career of James "Lights Out" Toney (who is what Epps's character is loosely based on) but their relationship ended very badly and I would have enjoyed seeing that portrayed on screen. Kallen also has twice beaten breast cancer so this proves she's a tough person to dissuade but the film instead wanted to give a more commercial appeal to audiences by making the script concentrate on how she allowed her celebrity status to get the better of her. Some have said that Ryan isn't exactly the right actress to play such a tough talking person but I found her performance pretty good and I've always considered her to be a pretty stubborn person herself so I thought the choice of casting her to be a good one. Besides the angle of a woman in the fight game this film is just too predictable and clichéd to recommend but I do give Ryan credit for lending her talent to this attempt and I do think that if anyone is interested in viewing this it's because of her undeniable appeal.

The boxing scenes in this movie make it unbearable to watch. There is no point in a movie about a woman who wants to be a boxing manager. Where's the real plot? You would think the movie would revolve around the boxer himself and not his manager. There is nothing exciting about this movie, and no suspense. I originally started watching because i thought I would see meg ryan in skimpy boxing shorts or something similar. What i seen was her standing near a ringside yelling at a lightweight boxer called Luther. They try to glorify this how? They could have at least made it a heavyweight bout. The fight scenes at the end is of the lowest quality. For hockey fans, This movie is like watching the AHL from an assistant coaches position... I mean sure there is no NHL right now, but there are still Rocky movies... go rent one of those instead. This movie is horrid! And then they applause Meg near the end for managing Luther to the title... who cares! she didn't even do anything! Not recommended at all. I love the big glorified ending "Jackie became the best female boxing manager of all time"... WOW, really, who cares?

Against the Ropes is very loosely based on the life of Jackie Cullen, boxing's most successful female promoter ever.Meg Ryan is Jackie, who's struggling as PA to a boxing venue owner, despite her family connections and knowledge of the sport. When she gains a dud boxer after a wager, Jackie encounters the talented Luther (Omar Epps) and enlists retired trainer Felix (Charles S Dutton, who also directed) to get Luther match-ready.Although Meg Ryan does well enough with Cheryl Edwards' hackneyed script, the real Jackie Cullen seems to be a far more interesting character. Not enough attention is paid to developing the other characters either, though Jackie and her protégé Owen build a good rapport. There's also a gaping plot inconsistency: why would Jackie go back to temping in administration when she owns her own boxing studio? However, the fight scenes are well choreographed and the highlight of the film. **/*****