A movie primer of sorts on newspaper reporting – though not nearly in the same league as All the President’s Men – Resurrecting the Champ might be one of those pictures better appreciated by denizens of a newsroom than anyone else. Josh Hartnett plays a sports reporter who encounters a former boxing legend (Samuel L. Jackson) living on the Denver streets. Sniffing a career-making story, Kernan begins to gradually convince the boxer to share his tale. Hartnett keeps his character’s edges refreshingly rough, while Jackson humbly defers to his younger costar. Journalism purists may scoff at some of the liberties director Rod Lurie allows, yet at heart this understands what a good piece of journalism should – and shouldn’t – be about.
