Crowe, Zellwegger, and the entire cast give outstanding performances in this film. It is an emotionally taxing story about a man sruggling to bring his family through the Great Depression. I guess I've never really seen that period in time depicted so vividly like that and it made me thankful for what I have. There are so many sad parts that I really didn't know when to cry. I know virtually nothing about boxing, but I thought that part of it was very good. Howard made it easy for the boxing ignorant to understand how and why the fights happened the way they did. If you hate boxing, you might get a bit bored, but overall this is an excellent boxing film and an excellently told and acted story as well.