{"id":13401,"date":"2025-11-09T15:09:28","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T20:09:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=13401"},"modified":"2025-12-23T17:41:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T22:41:20","slug":"christy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/11\/09\/christy\/","title":{"rendered":"Christy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Christy<\/strong> (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Black Bear\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 135 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, violence\/bloody images, some drug use, sexual material)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: David Michod\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Mirrah Foulkes and David Michod\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Antony Partos\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Germain McMicking\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 7, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Ben Foster, Merritt Weaver, Katy O\u2019Brian, Ethan Embry, Jess Gabor, Chad L. Coleman, Tony Cavalero, Bill Kelly, Bryan Hibbard, Coleman Pedigo.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ****<\/p>\n

\u00a0If there\u2019s one adjective I don\u2019t like to throw around casually, it\u2019s \u201ctransformative\u201d. I reserve it only for performances that truly deserve it like Timothee Chalamet\u2019s in last year\u2019s Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown. I feel completely comfortable applying it to Sydney Sweeney in Christy<\/strong>. The Euphoria actress positively disappears into the role of Christy Martin, a pioneer in the sport of women\u2019s professional boxing. It wasn\u2019t easy. She worked out daily, trained in boxing and gained 30 lbs. She basically did a Robert De Niro (as in Raging Bull) to prepare for the role. Sweeney doesn\u2019t just play Christy Martin, she is <\/em>Christy Martin. She\u2019s really that amazing!<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed by David Michod (Animal Kingdom), Christy<\/strong> isn\u2019t your typical uplifting sports drama in which an underdog fighter defies the odds and wins a big match against a mightier opponent. It\u2019s more like Million Dollar Baby (2004) in that it goes to some pretty dark places. Christy Martin might have been hot stuff in the ring with her cocky attitude, but not so much out of it. Her personal life is a hot mess mainly due to her husband Jim Martin (Foster, Hell or High Water), also her coach and manager. He\u2019s abusive, manipulative and controlling. He keeps her under his thumb, belittling her and making promises he has no intention of keeping. He also gets her hooked on drugs. It\u2019s a toxic relationship that culminates in a violent and horrific attack.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Michod follows Christy\u2019s career from her beginnings in 1989 when she was still living at home in West Virginia. She comes from a conservative family that refuses to accept she\u2019s not like other girls. Her mother Joyce (Weaver, Nurse Weaver) doesn\u2019t approve of her relationship with a female classmate. Yet she\u2019s okay with Christy taking up boxing. She becomes a sensation in the ring even capturing the attention of boxing promoter Don King (Coleman, The Walking Dead) immediately becoming the first female fighter to sign with him. Of course, all good things must come to an end.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Christy<\/strong> is every bit about domestic violence as it is boxing. Despite being a fierce and fearless fighter in the ring, she\u2019s helpless against Jim. He controls every aspect of her life including who she communicates with and what she says in interviews. When she finally asks her mom for help, she dismisses Christy as crazy and under the influence of drugs. It\u2019s a nightmare from which there is no escape until she finds it in herself to take action. It\u2019s a harrowing and realistic depiction of DV. It might even be triggering for some.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I can easily see Sweeney earning an Oscar nomination for her knock-out performance, but she\u2019s not the only one bringing it on in Christy<\/strong>. An unrecognizable Foster is absolutely loathsome as Jim, a guy who\u2019d get on well with Ike Turner. He excels at playing unbalanced characters and that\u2019s certainly the case with Jim Martin. However, this time plays the part with quiet menace. It\u2019s a slow burn leading to an explosion of violence. Even then, Foster keeps it under control.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Weaver turns in a strong performance as the mother, making her just as hateful (and at times, more) than the husband. She\u2019s one of those annoyingly prim types with a sweet fa\u00e7ade and a phony sing-song voice. She\u2019s all about appearances and Christy doesn\u2019t jibe with her vision of a perfect family. The way she treats her daughter is deplorable. She\u2019s especially awful to the classmate\/girlfriend (Gabor, The Machine), Christy\u2019s only true friend. Weaver effortlessly makes you hate this woman. Coleman adds some comic relief as King. He perfectly captures the promoter\u2019s king-sized ego.<\/p>\n

\u00a0What I like best about Christy<\/strong> is that it\u2019s compelling throughout. It tells an interesting story with fully realized characters like Lisa Holewyne (O\u2019Brian, Love Lies Bleeding), an in-the-ring rival who later becomes her trainer, refining her skills and trying to impart a lesson in humility. It\u2019s a fascinating relationship. In addition, Christy<\/strong> has genuine emotional content. You come to feel for Christy, flaws and all. You\u2019re not only rooting for her in the ring. There\u2019s a courtroom scene that will have you silently cheering for her as she finally faces off against her greatest opponent.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I can honestly say Christy<\/strong> is one of the best films I\u2019ve seen all year. I can\u2019t think of a single thing it does wrong. It entertains while hitting all the right dramatic beats. Plus, you get to see Sweeney at her best (so far). This is the one that\u2019s going make her a legit actress. I can even see her walking away with a few Best Actress honors. She deserves it!\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christy (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Black Bear\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 135 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, violence\/bloody images, some drug use, sexual material)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: David Michod\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Mirrah Foulkes and David Michod\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Antony Partos\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Germain McMicking\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 7, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Ben Foster, Merritt Weaver, Katy O\u2019Brian, Ethan Embry, Jess Gabor, Chad L. Coleman, Tony […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13404,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dramas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Christy-POSTER.jpg?fit=620%2C775&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13401"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13406,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13401\/revisions\/13406"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}