The Fighter Directed by: David O. Russell Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams Rating: NR Release Date: December 10, 2010

TRAILER SCORE: 4/10

MY THOUGHTS: Before anyone starts in on me for what I did to Secretariat, consider yourself warned because what I didn't like about that trailer found its way into this. David O. Russell may be a miserable excuse for a human being (check out the YouTube videos of his meltdown) but he's usually picked consistently good work. With The Fighter my main issue is that the trailer doesn't really sell the movie too well, considering that's the goal of a trailer. Instead, it supplies all of the turning point movies in just about every other underdog story. I understand that this will be a heartwarming "based on a true story" kind of biopic, but Disney churns out one of those every other year, do we really need a supposedly gritty version of the same events? In fact, Wahlberg was even in one of them! Needless to say, I'd forgotten about Invincible until I started writing this review and I imagine a similar thing will happen with The Fighter. What I think is most disappointing about this trailer is the misuse of talent. I obviously can't speak as to how the actors and actresses perform in the movie itself, but the scenes chosen for the trailer don't really highlight any of their talents. Instead, they just put inspirational music over every other word to sell Oscar bait. The movie itself may be great, but this trailer doesn't do a very good job at highlighting its potential.