Two of Old Stroke

What would happen if two of the greatest boxers in cinema history - Rocky Balboa and Jake LaMotta aka Wild Bull - met in retirement? A glimpse of this is provided by the comedy Two of Old Stuff, in which director Peter Segal (50 First Dates) sends the two actors of these cinematic boxing legends into the ring. Thirty years ago, Henry Razor Sharp (Sylvester Stallone) and Billy The Kid McDonnen (Robert De Niro) were big stars on the boxing circuit and the biggest competitors in the ring. After each has defeated the other once, one more fight should finally decide who is the better boxer. But just before this decisive fight, Razor ended his career completely unexpectedly and without further explanation. Now, thirty years later, the rivalry between the two boxers is to be revived for a video game. But after the opponents go at each other in the motion capture footage and the clip is a huge hit on the Internet, the young boxing promoter Dante Slate Jr. (Kevin Hart) senses his big chance to finally collect a lot of money: he wants to make up for the canceled decision fight and get the boxing pensioners back in the ring for it. While McDonnen is immediately ready for the final reckoning, Razor is initially reluctant to put the boxing gloves back on. But when he loses his job, and with it his financial footing, he too must agree to this unusual fight.

With plenty of humor, nice references to Rocky and Like a Wild Bull, lots of Pittsburgh local color (though the film was shot mostly in New Orleans), and good-humored actors, Two of Old Stature offers just under two hours of solid moviegoing pleasure. Sure, Razor and The Kid don't box in the same quality class as Rocky Balboa and Jake LaMotta, but as a pure entertainment film, the comedy works very well. The most positive aspect of this is certainly that director Segal resists the temptation to let old man boxing degenerate into an over-the-top slapstick comedy in most moments. True, there are a few moments here and there where the gags are a bit too simplistic. And also the character of the somewhat overdone boxing promoter is a bit annoying in the long run. But overall, the production strikes just the right tone between comedy and drama, between quiet nostalgia and spot-on punchline wit.

When the two rivals go at each other in goofy motion-capture suits, have to pose for all sorts of humiliating promotions, and show the younger Ultimate Fighter generation what a real rake is, it makes for a really good laugh with the audience. At the same time the movie tries to tell with a certain seriousness about the difficulties of getting older, about the transience of fame or about the necessity to let go of the past. This doesn't always work really well, as there's always a bit too much pathos and too predictable clichés creeping in. But overall, the film clearly benefits from these quieter, more dramatic moments.

For not only does this add a touch of depth to what is in itself a rather simplistic story. The good actors are not simply degraded to joke figures, but are allowed to use their acting skills again and again. Surely, the viewer's intellect isn't stressed much, though. Even if Two of Old Stuff didn't become mindless nonsense, the comedy is miles away from sophisticated auteur cinema. But that's actually a good thing, because with its intellectual lightness and its courage to be silly, the film doesn't even try to be more than an entertaining escape from reality, an amusingly nostalgic trip into the past of the two main characters or a pleasurable fun even for slightly older lovers of US comedies. So if you don't expect anything more from the exchange of blows between the two boxing oldies than light, traditional comedy fare with slight dramatic touches, you should definitely buy a ticket for this amusing fight. Worth seeing

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp