The Great White Hype Details

This boxing comedy — a brave attempt at satirising the unsatirisable — boasts a heavy-hitting cast that includes boisterous Damon Wayans, sinister Samuel L Jackson and a typically oddball Jeff Goldblum. Wayans is James “the Grim Reaper” Roper, the black heavyweight champion of the world, who has beaten all there is to beat and is seeking new opponents. Step forward fair-skinned rocker Terry Conklin, who once beat Roper as an amateur, but has since given up the fight game. Jackson persuades him to go back into training again. There are some sharp observations among the many slapstick moments.

While boxing is certainly ripe for a hard-hitting exposé of its behind-the-scenes machinations, this movie isn't it, settling instead for some inoffensive comedy.