{"id":408063,"date":"2025-09-08T14:59:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T14:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/408063\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T14:59:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T14:59:10","slug":"sydney-sweeneys-cliched-boxing-drama-flops-with-critics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/408063\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney Sweeney&#8217;s &#8220;cliched&#8221; boxing drama flops with critics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/sydney-sweeney\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sydney Sweeney<\/a>\u2018s new boxing drama Christy has largely proved a flop with critics following its premiere.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"post-content-read-more\">\n<li><strong>Read More:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/features\/film-interviews\/sydney-sweeney-immaculate-euphoria-madame-web-snl-3603533\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u00a0Sydney Sweeney doesn\u2019t get why you\u2019re obsessed with her: \u201cI\u2019m just being me\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The new biopic follows the story of boxer Christy Martin, focusing on her career as one of the top female boxers of the \u201990s and \u201900s before enduring and surviving domestic violence at the hands of her husband and trainer, James (Ben Foster).<\/p>\n<p>The film has just premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and has so far drawn a very mixed reception from critics.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/film\/2025\/sep\/05\/christy-review-sydney-sweeney\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Guardian<\/a> called it a \u201ccliched boxing biopic\u201d, with Benjamin Lee writing: \u201cAs perfectly timed as this narrative might be, Christy just isn\u2019t nearly good enough, a by-the-numbers slog that fails to prove Sweeney\u2019s status as a one to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3890850\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Sydney-Sweeney-in-Christy-1.jpg\" alt=\"Sydney Sweeney in 'Christy'\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1270\"  \/>Sydney Sweeney in \u2018Christy\u2019. CREDIT: Black Bear Pictures<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA contradiction at the heart of Christy is that Sweeney is the main reason anyone is paying attention to the project, but her own high-profile celebrity makes it difficult to believe her as the character,\u201d the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/culture\/article\/20250906-christy-review-sydney-sweeney-as-champion-boxer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">BBC<\/a>\u2018s Caryn James added. \u201cCan she ever escape the real-life chatter around her?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Others had praise for Sweeney, however, even if they felt that the film itself was more underwhelming.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBe it in a smile in the ring or an impassioned speech, we feel the nuances in her performance that the film itself is often lacking,\u201d wrote <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/christy-review-sydney-sweeney\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TheWrap<\/a>\u2018s Chase Hutchinson. \u201cEven when the experience writ large threatens to dull her spark, Sweeney never lets it die out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/screenrant.com\/christy-movie-review\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ScreenRant<\/a> suggested that while Sweeney \u201cgives a strong performance\u201d, she \u201cdeserved a better showcase for her talents\u201d, while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/obsessed\/can-sydney-sweeney-break-into-the-best-actress-oscar-race\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Daily Beast<\/a> said she gives a \u201cbelievable performance that almost transcends her role\u2019s derivativeness\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>However, critic Nick Schager further said the film is \u201cso rote that even an A.I. wouldn\u2019t dare try to pass it off as original\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith struggles in film craft and an overly ambitious cast seemingly working on different levels and tones, Christy is never able to land its emotional punches,\u201d wrote <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pajiba.com\/film_reviews\/review-christy-starring-sydney-sweeney-and-katy-obrian.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pajiba<\/a>\u2018s Lindsay Traves.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>In another scathing review, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefilmstage.com\/tiff-review-christy-makes-a-shamelessly-generic-oscar-grab-for-sydney-sweeney\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Film Stage<\/a>\u2018s Ethan Vestby wrote: \u201cBoth the distributor and actress seem to have similarly malignant aims for the medium of cinema in making this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t all bad though, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/tv-movies\/tv-movie-reviews\/christy-review-sydney-sweeney-boxing-biopic-1235420349\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rolling Stone<\/a>\u2018s David Fear suggesting it was \u201ca decent movie\u201d and \u201ca way better proof-of-concept regarding Sweeney\u2019s willingness to go the distance for a project\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt doesn\u2019t pull punches, even if that ultimately leaves a different kind of mark on its audience,\u201d added <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiewire.com\/criticism\/movies\/christy-review-sydney-sweeney-biopic-1235149362\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">IndieWire<\/a>\u2018s Kate Erbland.<\/p>\n<p>Christy comes from director and co-writer David Mich\u00f4d, and also features performances by Merritt Wever, Katy O\u2019Brian and Ethan Embry.<\/p>\n<p>Sweeney recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/film\/sydney-sweeney-sheds-light-on-training-regime-for-boxing-biopic-christy-3890538\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">shed light on her transformation for the film<\/a>, which saw her gain 30 pounds to prepare for the role.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sydney Sweeney\u2018s new boxing drama Christy has largely proved a flop with critics following its premiere. Read More:\u00a0Sydney&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-408063","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115169274481666720","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}