"Million Dollar Baby"

Directed by: Clint Eastwood

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman

Rated: PG-13 (adult language, boxing violence and some disturbing images)

Running time: 134 minutes

Best suited for: boxing fans, Eastwood fans, melodrama fans

Least suited for: realists

In 1990, New York Yankee Andy Hawkins pitched a no-hitter—a remarkable feat in baseball—against the Chicago White Sox. Because of defensive errors, however, Hawkins and the Yankees lost the game. It was a strange confluence of events that led to a highly improbable outcome. For Hawkins, for Yankee fans, the game should have been won.

I felt that same emotional letdown watching Clint Eastwood’s boxing drama, "Million Dollar Baby." Despite amazing performances by a stellar cast—Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman and Clint Eastwood—awesome production values, and a gritty, mostly sterling plot, I came away from the theater feeling less than satisfied. Maybe it was little more than a cinematic error in the outfield.

Eastwood plays Frankie Dunn, a grizzled Los Angeles gym owner and smalltime boxing manager. Frankie is a devout Catholic who attends Mass every morning but isn’t above rattling his parish priest (Brian O’Byrne) with questions about theocracy and doctrine. Morgan Freeman plays the hired help, a former fighter named Eddie Dupris who makes up for Frankie’s cynicism in rueful soul.

One day Maggie Fitzgerald (a buff Hilary Swank) saunters into the gym and asks Frankie to train her. Frankie doesn’t train girls and tells her to take a hike. But Maggie’s a Missouri mountain girl and doesn’t take "no" for an answer. There are some nice cat-and-mouse moments between Swank and Eastwood before Maggie eventually wears Frankie down. Finally, with his training and her moxie, Maggie easily KO’s the local competition. Pretty soon, she’s got a shot at the title.

And that’s where the film switches gears, for better or worse, from a scratchy fight flick to an over-the-top morality play.

"Million Dollar Baby" is a dark—a gratuitously dark—film. When hope was prevalent, the plot managed to keep its balance. But when things go south for the pig-headed Maggie, they do so in a big way. I couldn’t help but feel that Eastwood, as director, was sometimes hitting below the belt. By the end of the film, I felt more manipulated than uplifted by Maggie’s story. The last half-hour is so laden with emotional booby-traps that I mentally disengaged numerous times.

The problem for this reviewer is acknowledging that many viewers will likely be enthralled with the story’s direction and moved by its outcome. (It’s anything but predictable.) For this reason I’m hesitant to rate "Million Dollar Baby." It’s like trying to rate the color mauve. You either like it or you don’t and nobody’s going to change your mind.

On a positive note, the cast is sensational. The film (based on the short stories of ex-boxer Jerry Boyd, writing as F. X. Toole) begins with heart and soul and promise. Perhaps if the story had unfolded as fable—not told with such gritty realism—I might have been more apt to accept the outcome. Not that "Million Dollar Baby" doesn’t have subtle mythic overtones—just not enough to sway me.

I also had questions that the film didn’t answer. For instance, what inspired Maggie’s uncompromising passion for boxing? There are hints of a reason—hence my curiosity—although her fervor is never explained. Why does she seek out Frankie Dunn in particular? And what motivates Frankie to write his estranged daughter every week, even though his letters are returned unopened? Does it somehow shape his relationship with Maggie?

If so, it seems an important omission. I also found Morgan Freeman’s narration too intrusively similar to his voiceover in "The Shawshank Redemption." Admittedly, all trivial grievances, and the bottom line is this: "Million Dollar Baby" is worth seeing. Some may even find my criticism irrelevant. Critic Roger Ebert calls it the best film of 2004.

But for some of us, mauve just isn’t our color.

   In a nutshell: "Million Dollar Baby" is a story about living large vs. living safe. Despite its best—even admirable—intentions, the film’s shroud of contrived gloom distanced me from the story.

If you’re a fan of boxing or of melodrama, then you’ll probably enjoy the ride. Still, like me, you may come away bothered by the emotional manipulation. See it, and decide for yourself.