CHRISTY

Director: David Michôd
Starring: Sydney Sweeney, Ben Foster, Merritt Weaver, Ethan Embry, Jess Gabor, Coleman Pedigo, Chad L. Coleman

Every year we seem to get that underdog sports movie hoping for some sort of award season buzz. This year Sydney Sweeney goes against type as real life boxer Christy Martin in Christy. Christy Martin is a well-known female boxer in the sports world. Her entry into the sport started off by winning a strongman competition despite no real training. She was a star basketball player in high school who was quick to stand up for herself when others bullied her for being gay. She lived in West Virginia and came from a deeply conservative family with a mom who couldn’t even bear to ask her daughter if she was gay. Merritt Weaver plays Christy’s mother who is icy to the core. Ethan Embry plays her father and gives her more empathy and compassion than anyone else in her life. She’s approached to take up boxing and it’s almost immediate that there’s more misogyny and homophobia coming at her at the hands of her new coach and trainer, Jim Martin (Foster). He’s quick to dismiss her but turns around to the point of asking her to marry him. She relents, and they’re married by the time she’s 24 despite him being decades older. She makes a name for herself in the ’90s boxing scene and is referred to as the “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” Behind the scenes, she’s in an abusive marriage with a husband whose taking advantage of her career and leading her down a horrible path. In theaters

Here’s my review