Christy recounts how a coal miner’s daughter fought for the first woman’s pay-per-view slot on Mike Tyson’s boxing card.
Christy Salters (Sydney Sweeney) was a basketball player, but she always got into fights with the other girls. Entering — and winning — a tough-man competition for fun, she grabs the attention of a boxing gym owner. He introduces her to Jim Martin (Ben Foster), who would become her trainer, husband and abuser. Immediately taking control of Christy’s life and career, he promises to take her to the top. Luckily, Don King (Chad L. Coleman) comes on his accord, attracted to Christy’s knockout record, reputation and good looks. In the ring, Christy was paving the way for women boxers. But behind closed doors, Jim’s manipulation and mistreatment would nearly cost her life.
Seeing everyone patronize Christy is irksome, but not surprising. Jim gifts her pink trunks for her first professional fight because she “looks cute in pink.” Outside the ring, she has to emphasize her femininity to increase her appeal. Women who’ve faced similar criticisms may feel activated and even frown on her compliance. Christy was a reluctant trailblazer. She put everything she has into boxing and sacrifices even more to be successful.
The film includes classic boxing genre elements, including many scenes of her training and several fights, most of which she wins by knockout. Sweeney exudes Christy’s bravado, but also looks like a capable fighter. Fittingly, her technique noticeably improves over the course of the film after she begins training professionally.
Sweeney commits not only to Christy’s physicality and loud personality, but her vulnerability. She allows just the slightest cracks in the boxer’s bluster before quickly shoring them back up. Meanwhile, Foster is nearly unrecognizable. He’s lost in Jim’s insinuating malice, which is as striking as it is unsettling.
Director: David Michôd
Starring: Sydney Sweeney, Ben Foster and Merritt Wever
