'Southpaw' review: Comeback cliche packs weak punch

Jake Gyllenhaal gets his "Raging Bull" on in "Southpaw," a boxing drama for which the actor transformed his slender physique into a 175-pound rack of rippling muscle. He's a spectacular sight, all pulsing veins and popping pecs, topped by a terrific snarl. If those were the only requirements for a great boxing movie, "Southpaw" would be a near-masterpiece.

Instead, "Southpaw" is a near-disaster. It's the story of Billy "The Great" Hope (Gyllenhaal), a light heavyweight champion who drinks away his career after his wife, Maureen (Rachel McAdams), is killed. For the sake of his young daughter, Leila (Oona Laurence), Billy must get back on his feet and fight Miguel Escobar (Miguel Gomez), who played a murky role in Maureen's death. The basic premise -- the comeback -- is so sturdy and dependable that it would seem to be foolproof. Various iterations have resulted in many a "Rocky," two versions of "The Champ" and 2005's "Cinderella Man," to name just a few enjoyable examples.

What sinks "Southpaw" is its mangled script, by Kurt Sutter (creator of FX's "Sons of Anarchy"). No cliche goes unused (Forest Whitaker plays the alcoholic, half-blind gym manager Tick Wills) and no subplot goes unbotched (Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson plays Billy's manager, a confusingly drawn frenemy whose motivations are never clear). The dialogue aims for street-gritty but lands instead on inarticulate-unimpressive: "You gotta let her go through her thing," Tick advises Billy about his daughter, "and not think that her thing is your thing." As for Gyllenhaal, when he's not in the ring he mumbles through scenes like Marlon Brando by way of Robert De Niro.

A final note: Gyllenhaal's character seems to be named after Howard Sackler's play "The Great White Hope," based on the real-life search for a white heavyweight who could defeat the black champion Jack Johnson (1908-1915). Director Antoine Fuqua, a lifelong boxer, surely knows the play -- but why is it alluded to in "Southpaw?" Does it have something to do with the movie's originally intended star, Eminem -- a white rapper in a largely black field? The whole movie is full of such wild swings, and in the end "Southpaw" knocks itself to the mat.