The Great White Hype

This rude satire of the fight game (cowritten by Tin Cup's Ron Shelton and directed by Boomerang's Reginald Hudlin) doesn't quite deliver the expected knockout punch. But The Great White Hype does land enough sharp jabs to make it one of the best movies nobody saw this year. The title refers to the buildup to a bout between Damon Wayans' champ and Peter Berg's chump, a palooka being peddled as the great white hope. The fight itself is absurdly anti-climatic, but that's precisely the point. The real show here is Samuel L. Jackson's flamboyant promoter and Wayans' punch-drunk prima donna, whose addled postfight rants sound a bit like Mike Tyson on painkillers. You don't have to be a fight fan to enjoy this three-ring circus. B+