Fighting Tommy Riley

This small, lovingly crafted film continually surprises with its depth and resonance.

Working on a microbudget, director Eddie O'Flaherty coaches solid performances from his small cast and makes the most of the handful of up-close, well-choreographed fight montages.

Despite its flaws, the film gets across some genuine melancholy, played up by a sobbing Irish fiddle.

The winner by a knockout is Eddie Jones...Without Jones, pic is a standard drama on the sweet science with the usual tropes and a slight tweak on the usual conflicts.

More character study than sports movie, the people in this film come across very much as flesh-and-blood personalities despite the script's tendency to indulge in cliches and let characters deliver highly emotional speeches.

Tommy Riley is a ten-cent "Baby."

Outrageously sentimental and retrograde.