Directed and written by Ron Shelton Starring Woody Harrelson, Antonio Banderas, Lolita Davidovich Classification: AA Rating: **
Once upon a time, sports movies were rare and Ron Shelton made pretty good ones. Bull Durham, White Men Can't Jump, Cobb, Tin Cup -- they definitely varied in quality, but all had a Sheltonesque flair, especially in their penchant for off-kilter dialogue informed by a real knowledge of the game. But that was then. In the interim, Shelton has come to seem less distinctive on two counts: (1) The big screen has grown much more jock-friendly (the past month alone has brought us both Any Given Sunday plus The Hurricane); and (2) through sheer dint of repetition, Shelton's once-unique flair has begun to look like a bunch of familiar parlour tricks. Alas, those tricks are played to the hilt in Play It to the Bone -- Shelton fans may be excused for thinking it's a formula flick.
The formula begins with the bickering buddies, Vince and Cesar (Woody Harrelson and Antonio Banderas). This time, the sport is boxing and the buds are a pair of journeyman middle-weights languishing in the depths of the division, their glory days apparently behind them. Or maybe not. At the eleventh hour, a sleazy Las Vegas promoter (is that doubly redundant?) finds himself with a vacancy in the undercard of a championship match between Mike Tyson and Mr. No-Name Opponent. (Clearly, this is pre-ear-chomping Mike -- another reason the film feels dated.) Anyway, our pugs get the call to fill the void and fight each other.
Bring on the babe, and continue the formula. She (Lolita Davidovich) is known as Grace on this go-round, and drives the car that takes the guys to their Vegas bout. Like Annie in Bull Durham, Grace has gone a few rounds herself -- seems she's not only Cesar's girlfriend but also Vince's ex-girlfriend, a happy coincidence that gives Shelton ample opportunity to crank up that off-kilter banter of his. So, as the car crosses the desert and the picture settles into a road movie, we're treated to much verbal jousting (most of it rather dull by the director's standards) and the occasional flashback to fill in the trio's checkered past -- checkered enough that Vince has turned into a hallucinating Jesus freak while the more sensitive Cesar has begun to question his sexual orientation. Well, the jousting goes on and so does the drive, neither offering much in the way of comic payoff. By now, the road to Vegas feels hellishly long, and paved with nothing more than good intentions.
All this plays like a really rambling setup to an awfully short punch line. Or, in this case, punch-up. Actually, when the fight finally begins, the sequence proves quite remarkable. Shelton knows his sports, and the ring action ranks among the most convincing and compelling in the annals of screen fiction. It comes with a more-or-less serious theme: the fact that journeymen professionals are still exceptional athletes by mere mortal standards and, at given moments, can truly shine. Here, both fighters shine simultaneously, which, in a boxing ring, means that the good friends beat each other to a bloody pulp. The irony may be small, but the pugilism is riveting. If great acting is knowing how to follow a hard left jab with a wicked right hook, then Harrelson and Banderas are definitely Oscar-bound.
Alas, when the punch-up ends, the formula resumes, and Play It to the Bone finishes up just about where it began -- back on the road, going nowhere and playing it safe.