'Rocky' meets Meg Ryan

As far as boxing films go, Sylvester Stalone set the bar pretty high with "Rocky." So far only Scorsese's "Raging Bull" even comes close, though "Against the Ropes" gives it the old college try. The major difference "Ropes" brings to the table is it focuses not on the boxer but on the boxing manager, who just happens to be a woman. \nJackie Kallen (Meg Ryan) has been around boxing most of her life and loves it with a passion -- so much so that she works a crappy job as a personal assistant to a boxing venue manager just to be around the game. One night she gets in an argument with a big shot promoter (Tony Shaloub of "Wings") and to call her bluff he sells Jackie a fighter's contract for a dollar. When she goes to visit her new client, Luther Shaw (a buff Omar Epps), who happens to have a nice jab-hook combo, she finds him cracked-up and getting beaten by a dealer's muscle man.\nJackie bails Luther out of jail and with the help of a veteran trainer (director Charles Dutton) they mold him into a boxer. The smooth talking, ever persistent Jackie then stops at nothing to get her man match after match. As Luther starts winning, Jackie begins gaining the attention of the media and the fame ultimately goes to her head. She breaks promises and puts HBO ahead of Luther, but fear not, there is a happy ending and it involves lots of clapping.\nRyan delivers a good performance which is a nice change-up from her usual roles in Tom Hanks romance flicks. She sports short leather skirts and speaks in what seems to be a New York accent, and overall she is very believable as real life boxing manager Jackie Kallen, who is the only woman to have managed six championship fighters.\nThe fight scenes are well directed by Dutton, who was actually a boxer in his early days. However, his character, as well as several other characters are very one-sided and sacrifice their own development in order to move the story along. \nFurthermore, Luther is underwritten as a thug-turned-professional boxer. We are given almost no background on the man, and his relationship with Jackie's friend Renee (Kerry Washington) is ambiguous to say the least.\n"Against the Ropes" would not last one round in the ring with "Rocky," but it does have its strong points. The fight scenes are intense, the acting is quite admirable and the film certainly does not suffer from lack of emotion. It is intriguing to watch a woman who made such an impact in the sport of boxing, and for that reason it's worth a jab.