What exactly is a family? For many people it's who you grow up with, those people that live with you. For me, my family is my father, my mother, my sister, my brother, my brother-in-law, and my girlfriend. I know that those people love me. I love those people. They are my family. They won't give me advice that will help them at my expense. This does not seem to be the case in David O. Russel's “The Fighter,” where nearly the entire family is more worried about loyalty and their own self-interest than the well-being of the one member of the family that can possibly help them.
There is nothing really new or groundbreaking about “The Fighter.” The story circles around a pair of brothers. One, a crack addict former boxer, named Dicky (Christian Bale), who constantly reminds himself and others that he once was good and knocked Sugar Ray Leonard down in a bout. The other a current boxer, Mickey (Mark Wahlberg), who's trying his best to break out and start winning some matches. We also see Dicky and Mickey's mom, Alice (Melissa Leo), who seems to know what's best for everyone. It seems that Dicky and his mom serve as Mickey's manager, and they're really not that good at it. They let Mickey fight a man 20 pounds heavier and Mickey gets his butt kicked.
Mickey meets a smart bartender, Charlene (Amy Adams), who questions the intentions of his brother and mother. She wonders if they have the best for Mickey in mind. Of course, Charlene comes into conflict with Mickey's family rather quickly, and the conflict remains throughout much of the movie. The question that is constantly being asked, is who's looking out for who. Somebody needs to look out for Mickey because he's the one being punched in the face for a living. The problem is, Mickey doesn't seem to want that responsibility either. Whether it's his mom, his brother, or Charlene, somebody seems to take control of Mickey. Why can't Mickey make his own decisions? The movie never really answers that.
Watching the movie, I wonder if living in the family he did, if Mickey was naturally that passive outside of the ring, or if the personalities that he grew up with squelched his own personality. The family is an interesting one, Dicky and Mickey have different fathers, and I think everyone's on positive terms with everyone else. They live in a poor neighborhood so of course they surround whatever opportunity for prosperity they can. It used to be Dicky, he screwed that up. Now it's Mickey. However, Dicky is still family, and here, family comes first. Family always comes first, even before the wellbeing of their prize-fighter. Charlene convinces Mickey that he needs to make a change. He eventually and grudgingly does. 
Like I said, this movie doesn't really do anything new. But, it does what it has to to make a rather compelling and interesting movie, if not exciting and original. The movie is based on a true story so there may not be as much room for creativity and originality, but that's ok. The movie is good, not great. The acting is great. Well, the supporting acting is great. Wahlberg kind of has to take a back seat to all the other characters, because well, that's the character he's playing. Each of the other characters has such a strong personality that they require strong performances. The closest to over-the-top acting comes from Bale, and yet, I can't exactly fault him for it, because it seems as though it's exactly how Dicky would act. Mellissa Leo and Amy Adams seem to work very well against each other, because they seem so similar to each other. They both love Mickey, they both think they want and are doing what's best for Mickey. It's just much clearer to the audience that Charlene is right, and mom is wrong.
It's hard to change tradition, especially family tradition. When your entire life is based on family first and loyalty above all, it becomes incredibly difficult to make a decision against the advice of family. Sometimes you have to though. Family is not always right. There has to come a time in every person's life when you start making your own decisions apart from one's family. Otherwise, you can never be your own person. You can never create your own family, and you can never leave home.
Maybe you don't want to leave home. That's ok. But there's a whole world out there, and you'll never see that if you never leave home.
7/10
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