Malin Akerman shows off her fighting skills in her new movie, Chick Fight, which was released last Friday. In the film, Akerman, a producer, plays Anna, a coffee shop owner who loses her business in a fire. With no insurance, her mother’s loss, and no romantic partner, Anna is feeling low. However, all changes when she joins her friend Charleen (Duce Sloane) at a secret all-female fight club.
Right away, Anna is targeted by the club’s top fighter, Olivia (Bella Thorne) and is challenged to a fight. If Anna loses, she has to leave the club. To get her ready for the fight, Anna recruits Jack Murphy (Alec Baldwin), a former boxing trainer. As she trains and attends the fight club, she develops a strong bond with the other fighters. She also becomes a stronger person, physically and mentally.
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“It was more the fact that my very good friend, Paul Leyden, directed this. I’ve known him for 15 years. He had this script and approached me with it, saying ‘Maybe we could do this together and you could produce it.’” Akerman said to Forbes when asked why she wanted to get involved with the film. As far as reviews go, it’s not been pretty as Rotten Tomatoes has given Chick Fight a 35% percent score. And the audience score isn’t any better as it sits at 38%.
A Good Time, But…
Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter, said Chick Fight is “fun,” but it’s not a “fight club worth talking about.” He really likes the way Akerman plays her role, and he really enjoyed the fight scenes.ย
“Much like its frequently battered protagonist, you’re likely to have a good time during Chick Fight, but you won’t feel great about it the next day,” Scheck wrote.ย
Doesn’t Hit the Mark
Kate Erbland of Indie Wire says that Akerman’s energy “can’t save this retrograde wannabe that wastes an interesting premise on cheap jokes and paper-thin posturing.” She also doesn’t understand why didn’t anyone kick out the antagonist Olivia.ย
“Despite Akerman’s consistent charm and willingness to get down and dirty on Anna’s quest for self-actualization (and smacking the crap out of people), ‘Chick Fight’ never punches up, constantly churning out repetitive, cheap, and lazy narrative choices meant to propel it to an ostensibly happy ending,” Erbland wrote.ย
Too many Cliches
Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com did not hold back as she wrote, “not only does ‘Chick Fight’ trot out sexist character tropes, it also wallows in trite boxing-movie cliches.” She went to write the entire story was inconsistent as it went to “gooey, feel-good territory after so much unabashed raunchiness,” which didn’t sit well with her.ย
“If the first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club, the first rule of ‘Chick Fight’ may as well be never to talk about ‘Chick Fight.’ That shouldn’t be too hard,” Lemire wrote.ย
Misleading Title
Todd Jorgenson of Cinemalounge writes Chick Fight is “not as tough or edgy as its title suggests, this broad comedy about female empowerment is hardly a knockout.” He also noted the “actors seem to enjoy playing in a traditionally male-dominated arena, but their enthusiasm doesn’t make the lame gags funnier, or make the predictable film a winner.”
Bland Comedy
Jessica Kiang of Variety wrote that Chick Fight is a “well-meaning but bland comedy that squanders the potential of its female-fight-club premise and fails to deliver on its R-rated promise.” She also mentioned the fight scenes will grab the viewer’s attention.ย
“Relentless niceness aside, the fight scenes are engaging enough, artfully edited with balletic slo-mo sections and blood squib usage to imply contact, though no one ever sports so much as a bruise until Anna gets the kind of high-cheekbone scrape that manages to make her look even prettier,” Kiang wrote.
Little Effort
Allen Adams of The Maine Edge put in bluntly by writing the “filmmakers basically just slapped a dress and a smile on Fight Club and called it a day.” He also stated that if Chick Fight would have focused more on empowerment, it would have been a strong film.ย
“‘Chick Fight’ is one of those comedies that never quite clicks,” Adams wrote. “While there are some solid jokes and a few hints at female empowerment, the pieces fail to fully fit together. Ironically, the biggest issue with the movie is the fact that it doesn’t hit hard enough; if the film had leaned more heavily on the themes instead of contenting itself with slapstick physicality and slo-mo fight scenes, there might have been more of a spark to it.”
Not Terrible
Adam Mock of Flim Inquiry pointed out that Chick Fight is “not entirely” terrible but it never takes advantage of the premise it was trying to flesh out.” He also said a female director for the film could have helped in a big way.ย
“Call me woke if you want to but a female touch put on a female lead movie could have benefited this greatly,” Mock wrote. “The plot is a good one though it’s the narrative issues and lazy comedy writing fails this movie in every scene.”
