Christy centres around boxing legend Christy Salters (Sydney Sweeney – Echo Valley), from Itmann, West Virginia, who first tries out for the sport in 1989, to the tune of Tears For Fears’ Head Over Heels… actually a 1985 song, but still a great one.
Turning out to be a natural, and given how she’s massively determined, she’s introduced to her new trainer, Jim Martin (Ben Foster – Hell Or High Water), he’s first introduced to us as a bit of a dick, but is well-meaning, and thinks she has promise. As for how he turns out, I’ll leave you to discover, but it’s safe to state that given how she’s credited as “Christy Martin”, they do get married as time goes along.
There’s endless promises, over the years, about getting her big break and meeting Don King, bringing us to 1995, by which time they’re hitched; and Chad Coleman plays a blinder as ‘DK’ – as he’s affectionately known, giving her career a boost, including giving her the chance to be the first female boxer in a PPV match.
Jim doesn’t take kindly to the fact his wife prefers the company of women to men, leading to a relationship with Lisa Holewyne (Katy O’Brian – Love Lies Bleeding), and the situation between husband and wife breaking down irrecoverably.
I wrote a lot of notes for this film, but to print them all here would result in giving a load of spoilers, so I obviously won’t, but what I can say is that before watching this, I saw endless reports on how bad it is, leading to almost-empty screenings in the USA, and at the time of posting this, for a mere budget of $15m, it’s only taken $2m worldwide so far.
Why, the fuck, WHY?! It was bloody amazing! Ms Sweeney and Mr Foster are absolutely acting their socks off, and the script appears to wholly adhere to reality – bar the occasional change of name for movie purposes – and I can’t see any reason why Sydney shouldn’t be up for Best Actress at the next Oscars, and Ben for Best Supporting Actor!
Plus, given the following that Sydney Sweeney has, who’s turning down the chance to watch her on the big screen, even though The Housemaid won’t be far behind, on Boxing Day?
And this all comes from someone who doesn’t like boxing, because I don’t get how one person punching another into next week is a sport, but I still wanted her to win every fight!
NOTE: There are no mid, nor post-credits scenes.
Christy is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 135 minutes
Release date: November 28th 2025
Studio: Black Bear
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (ARRIRAW (6.5K))
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 9/10
Director: David Michôd
Producers: Kerry Kohansky-Roberts, Justin Lothrop, David Michôd, Teddy Schwarzman, Brent Stiefel, Sydney Sweeney
Screenplay: Mirrah Foulkes, David Michôd
Story: Katherine Fugate
Music: Antony Partos
Cast:
Christy Martin: Sydney Sweeney
Jim Martin: Ben Foster
Joyce Salters: Merritt Wever
Rosie: Jess Gabor
Big Jeff: Bryan Hibbard
Johnny Salters: Ethan Embry
Larry Carrier: Bill Kelly
Richard Christmas: Miles Mussenden
Walt: Buddy Carter
Randy Salters: Coleman Pedigo
Jimmy ‘Shortdog’ Maloney: Tony Cavalero
Douglas: Jay Croft
Jessie Robinson: Marvin LaViolette
Bonnie: Emma Jackson
Don King: Chad Coleman
Dana Jamison: Valyn Hall
Mike Tyson: Adrian Lockett
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.