Just because you've seen this story before doesn't mean you shouldn't see it again ... I think. "Southpaw" is an excessive, some may even say maniacal, retread of boxing movie classics such as the "Rocky" franchise, "The Fighter" and "Raging Bull. But it's so well performed and extravagantly financed you almost forget to complain about those glaring similarities. The wife isn't named Adrian, but she might as well as well be, judging by the way Billy Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal — with kickass abs) can't seem to do anything without asking her first.
Directed by Antoine Fuqua ("Training Day," "Olympus Has Fallen," "The Equalizer"), "Southpaw" is essentially a "bro flick" masquerading as one aimed at women, and it actually winds up slightly disappointing to both camps.
For women, Billy's wife Mo (Rachel McAdams) is potentially interesting and inspiring, but she exits the narrative far too soon and leaves little impression other than that of the typical ever-patient helpmate of a fighter husband. The remaining female cast includes Billy's 10-year-old daughter Leila (Oona Laurence) and by-the-book bureaucrat Angela (Naomie Harris), who's in charge of putting Leila in Child Protective Services. Other than that, women are pretty much elbowed aside to make way for the main machismo boxing story — which is, of course, the tale of Billy's comeback after a tragic turn of events deprives him of his world-champion title, family and just about everything he owns.