Directed & Written By: Stephen Merchant
Starring:
Florence Pugh
Jack Lowden
Nick Frost
Lena Headey
Vince Vaughn
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson
In 2012, Channel Four aired a documentary entitled ‘Fighting With My Family’ which provided a look into the lives of the Bevis/Knight family of wrestlers. Mum and Dad Julia and Ricky, along with their children Zak and Saraya, run shows out of Norwich under their WAW banner and the documentary tells the story of their family dynamic, the financial struggles the company & family were going through at the time and Saraya’s eventual rise to WWE super stardom as Paige.
I remember watching the documentary when it first aired and being introduced to both the larger than life characters of the family & the real life struggles that smaller, independent wrestling companies actually go through. As it turns out, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson also saw the documentary and turned to actor/writer/director Stephen Merchant to pen the tale of the Knights for a cinematic retelling of their story.
Seven years later, ‘Fighting With My Family’ finally hits cinemas and, after a lengthy promotional/festival tour, it brings with it a slew of positive reviews, heart-warming critiques and a such a loving affection towards the world of professional wrestling that non wrestling fans’ attitudes toward the product are changing for the better.
Florence Pugh shines as Saraya/Paige and is far from shy when it comes to being physically and emotionally invested in the role. Her presence as the well-known, former Divas Champion, is uncanny, well researched and portrayed with a clear respect for the wrestling boots she has stepped into, a compliment that can also be attributed to Lowden, Headey and Frost who is unsurprisingly, the film’s comedic voice as he often provides some much needed light relief to contrast some of the film’s darker moments.
A fair portion of the film’s emotional weight falls on the shoulder of Jack Lowden’s Zak who falls into what can only be described as a depressive episode after he is left out in the cold when Saraya is signed to WWE. “This was my dream” he shouts into Pugh’s face in an intense scene towards the end of the film which accurately reflects my feelings of the documentary as I thought it was clear that the real life Paige followed the wrestling path simply because that’s what her family does, something that is also addressed in the film during an early scene with Pugh and a very much straight acted Vince Vaughn who stars as a talent scout/trainer for WWE.
My biggest nit-pick with the film is some of the historical inaccuracies. Issues such as wrong stages for events and the abrupt timing of Paige’s main roster call up are just things that will be stubborn mountains that I and other invested WWE fans will have to die on while the everyday, general audience won’t know any different and will instead love the film for its charm, classic underdog narrative and central family dynamic.
Highly recommended for all!
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