The Stream: A standard sports biopic doing standard stuff.

The Big Screen: Sydney Sweeney makes a convincing boxer.

The Final Bill: A standard sports biopic has a good enough lead performance to make it mildly entertaining.

– Trip Fontaine
Director: David Michôd
Writers: David Michôd, Mirrah Foulkes, Katherine Fugate
Stars: Sydney Sweeney, Ben Foster, Merritt Wever, Ethan Embry, Chad L. Coleman
Genre: Biography, Drama, Sports
Rating: R for language, violence/bloody images, some drug use and sexual material.
Runtime: 2 hours 9 minutes
Production Companies: Black Bear, Anonymous Content, Votiv Films, Fifty-Fifty Films, Yoki,
Platform: In theaters November 7, 2025
Notable Trailers: The Housemaid, The Running Man, Wicked: For Good

What’s up, Streamers! If you were interested in The Smashing Machine, the Rock’s movie about Mark Kerr, which came out last month, but you didn’t get your fill of cinematic hand-to-hand combat; then, Christy may hit the spot for you. In Christy, Sydney Sweeney plays Christy Martin, who is heralded as the woman who put female boxing on the map in the 1990’s. This movie follows Martin’s rise to fame, her struggle with her sexuality, and her tumultuous relationship with her husband/manager, Jim Martin (Ben Foster). Typical biopic shenanigans ensue.

Yeah, Christy is your typical sports biopic. If you don’t know the story of Christy Martin, then there are some unexpected twists that occur which may catch you off guard and enhance your experience of this movie. If that’s the case, don’t look up her history before seeing the movie. Otherwise, this film tracks the rise, fall and hardships endured by Christy. It does a good job of making the triumphs rousing by having dynamic and entertaining boxing scenes. Those scenes are kinetic and overflowing with intense energy. Moreover, you want to see Christy succeed in the face of the adversity she’s met with. The movie also does a good job of depicting her hardships and trauma. Unfortunately, the movie wallows in the tropes of the villainy of the husband and the unsupportive conservative mother, drugs and annoying rivalries. It’s all very cliched and eye-rolling, even if that is the way it went in real life. We’ve seen these tropes so many times in these sports biopics that it’s almost laughable. Nevertheless, Christy Martin’s story is interesting and unique enough to get you invested.

Additionally, Christy is a successful movie because Sydney Sweeney did the work to become a believable boxer and an endearing character. She makes Christy a sympathetic woman, and you really want to root for her success. You also want her to escape the confines of the boxes her villainous family put her in. Sweeney embodies the bright spirit of this dynamic woman who put female boxing on the map. Ben Foster and Merritt Wever, as Christy’s husband and mother, respectively, do good mustache-twirling performances. It is too bad they aren’t asked to do more than to be the stock villains in a standard biopic. Nevertheless, they are appropriately hateable.

Ultimately, Christy is a typical sports biopic with a sympathetic central character. If you don’t know her story, then the movie does a good job of showing why there is a movie about her. Sydney Sweeney makes Christy an interesting and endearing character. However, the movie inevitably gets stuck with biopic tropes and cliches. Grab a bowl of popcorn if you really like boxing movies.