This film wants to be Million Dollar Baby but it falls flat on almost all fronts. Like so many other sports dramas that have come before it, Swing Bout tries hard but can’t seem to land any new punches in its category.
The story follows Irish boxer Toni Gale about to go head-to-head with her opponent in a boxing match. This is all the press conference and smack talk that we see and the majority of the film just takes place behind the scenes of a fight.
Things take a turn for the worse for Toni when her manager makes her throw the fight. As a result, Toni is distraught but, nevertheless, agrees to throw the fight while the rest of the boxing company is under fire for some hard-hitting news and deadly scandals promoters and managers got themselves into.
The film prides itself on being a sports drama but comes off as a cheesy soap opera with very low stakes and throughout its runtime, the film never seems to elevate itself above that.
Put bluntly, for a boxing movie, there’s a lot of talking and not that much boxing. You wouldn’t watch a football movie where you never see the players on the field.
