Fighting With My Family

This true life sporting comedy/drama is both genuinely touching and genuinely funny.

Premise: Small-time Norfolk wrestlers Saraya and Zac Knight (Florence Pugh and Jack Lowden) perform shows with their parents (Nick Frost and Lena Headey) while dreaming of a bright lights of the WWE. But when a WWE recruiter (Vince Vaughn) visits the UK and gives them their big chance, only Saraya – now going by the ring-name Paige – is chosen to travel to Florida and enter the gruelling training programme.

Review:

I wouldn’t say I’m a huge fan of WWE wrestling, but I do have a healthy respect for its unique blend athleticism and entertainment. But you really don’t need to be a fan of WWE, or wrestling in general, to find this true-life tale heart-warming.

Florence Pugh is fantastic in the lead role as Saraya Knight, born into a family of Norfolk wrestlers and, initially reluctantly, following in the footsteps of her mother, father and older brother into the ring. While her parents (played by Nick Frost and Lena Headey, who are both great at playing the comedic and the emotional aspects of their characters) run the business side of the wrestling show, Saraya and her older brother Zac spend their time between matches running a wrestling school for a random collection of local teens.

“…Saraya & Zac are fascinating, three-dimensional characters…”

There’s a lot going on in this film that makes it more than just the usual sporting underdog story. The wrestling school, for example, is not training up the next generation of professional wrestlers (one of the students is even blind), but it is a vital lifeline for the local youths, providing an opportunity to do something other than hang out with the drug-dealers on the local estates. Saraya and Zac are also fascinating, three-dimensional characters: Saraya is actually named after her mother’s ring-name, and carries all the emotional baggage and weight of expectation that comes with that, while the upbeat Zac pins all his hopes for the future on making it to the WWE – and when that dream is shattered, his life begins to fall apart in a heart-breaking way.

Meanwhile, once Saraya – now going by the ring-name “Paige”, chosen after have favourite character from Charmed – arrives in Florida for the training and development programme, she not only has to deal with being the outsider (a pale goth girl from Norfolk, surrounded by 6-foot, blonde, all-American model-types competing for a chance to join the WWE), but she’s also thousands of miles from home, and all-but estranged from Zac who now resents that she’s living his dream.

“…a feel-good gem, full of heart & humour…”

The film could have been a heavy-handed, gritty drama, but writer/director Stephen Merchant (a comedy genius in his own right) injects the perfect amount of humour and levity into the film, to keep the tone light, even when it is emotional.

The film really is a feel-good gem, full of heart and humour. By the time the real-life footage of Paige and her family plays over the end credits, this film is sure to have won you over.