Sydney Sweeney has become a lot like pineapple on pizza: everyone needs to have an opinion one way or another, and the straightforward opinion carries a lot of unintended baggage. Her early work in TV shows Euphoria and The White Lotus earned her praise, though as her notoriety grew, so did her prominence in the public light. Despite merely being an actor and occasional producer, you need to either passionately support her or passionately decry her, with many people who are Too Online failing to let you have a neutral stance or, dare I say, no opinion at all. With her latest film, Christy, Sweeney has the opportunity to prove to or remind audiences that she has more to offer Hollywood than just someone who appears at awards shows and dominates headlines with every mundane thing she says or decision she makes. I can confirm that, yes, Sweeney is a talented actor, and Christy is an exciting, engaging, and oftentimes depressing portrayal of real-life boxer Christy Martin, yet the real power of the picture is in the genuine story that inspired the big-screen boxing match more than in the picture itself.

In 1989, Christy (Sweeney) doesn’t have much of a trajectory in her life, given that she lives in a small town in West Virginia and isn’t yet 20, but she knows she can hold her own in a boxing ring. When she catches the eye of a promoter, she starts training with Jim Martin (Ben Foster), who initially balks at and pushes back against the idea of a female boxer, which includes chastising Christy for her sexuality. The more she trains, the stronger Christy’s skills get, leading to bigger matches and bigger paydays, rising to become one of the most famous female boxers in the sport’s history, all while Jim sinks his abusive hooks deeper into her after their marriage, controlling her finances, fights, and entire identity.

Boxing movies feel like they can’t just be boxing movies anymore; 1980’s Raging Bull was a masterwork from Martin Scorsese that delivered not only Robert De Niro’s prolific performance, but also showcased the physical transformation of a boxer at their highest and lowest points. Even just earlier this year, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson had to grow even more muscles and don facial prosthetics for The Smashing Machine, apparently to prove he is very strong and can act while being strong. With Christy, Sweeney has transformed into … a normal person. The actor didn’t undergo a transformation like Charlize Theron did for Monster, where she went from a beautiful actress to an intentionally unattractive person, but Sweeney instead went from her recognizable red-carpet looks of “very attractive” to “someone who wears sweatpants and has a mullet.” In this sense, Christy Martin is the perfect conduit for Sweeney at this point in her career, as both figures don’t have much of an opportunity to be who they want to be and instead have to deal with the plight of living up to other people’s expectations. Both Sweeney and Martin are actual human beings who have had their own narratives taken from them, as they have their identities projected onto them either by those close to them or by the general public.

What’s strange is that this isn’t the first time Sweeney has gotten to be an actual character, as she similarly “transformed” herself into a “normal person” when she played Reality Winner in the overlooked Reality. That 2023 film similarly highlighted that, while she can be quite charismatic and eye-catching in public appearances or in movies where her sex appeal is key to the plot, like in Anyone But You, she’s also an actor who aims to embody a variety of characters, even those who are quite unassuming in behavior and in stature. With Christy, you shouldn’t anticipate being blown away by the headlines touting Sweeney gained 30 pounds to … become a normal weight for a person, though she does adopt the necessary demure, unassuming, and sometimes abrasive persona of the real-life individual. Foster, however, sports a receding hairline, a combover, and a gut that allows him to hide his movie-star good looks. Christy might be rough around the edges, but Jim is rough around the edges and in the center, as he’s unlikable, irritating, and intimidating from his first appearance.

The real strength of the story comes from Christy’s actual experiences, starting as an amateur boxer without the pedigree that fighters normally have, using her instincts and natural abilities to make a name for herself while also opening doors for other athletes. The trauma that she endured serves as a reminder that, even people who are rich and famous can still have toxic figures in their lives that abuse and exploit them, as well as throttle all of their potential. For those who aren’t familiar with the real journey of Christy Martin, I won’t reveal everywhere this story goes, but Christy, as a film, highlights the power of not just physical resilience, but also emotional resilience. The script, directing, and editing all adequately bring this story to life, yet there’s nothing about the picture as a whole that screams “awards bait” like many people may have thought the movie would be.

If nothing else, Christy confirms some audiences’ worst fears: Sydney Sweeney is not a demon sent from Hell to dismantle society, nor is she a savior from Heaven who will solve global crises. Instead, she’s an actor who plays characters, and sometimes those characters have mullets and sometimes those characters wear bikinis. For those thinking I have a bias as a man (a term I use loosely), I should admit that I did highly enjoy her 2024 horror film Immaculate, yet I should also admit that I didn’t like Nocturne (the first movie I saw her in), Madame Web, or Anyone but You. In what might come as a shocking conclusion to this review, I must confess that I have a lot in common with Sydney Sweeney: we’re both just regular human beings, nothing more, nothing less (though she has talent and money and looks, and I just have a blog).

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