Million Dollar Baby Assessment

Movie Questions:
How effectively do you think this film was cast? Did the director do a quality job assigning parts to appropriate actors? Why or why not? (3)

Alright, Hilary Swank as an actress is just amazing. I loved her role in Boys Don't Cry and I also loved her role in this movie as well.

Morgan Freeman was also a specifically good actor in this movie as well. Although I will say, the narration with Clint Eastwood's voice got annoying.

However, I did notice one thing. Some of the actors casted in this movie, are huge comedians that you can see in any Seth Rogen movies. (i.e. Michael Pena; Observe & Report, Jay Baruchel; Knocked Up)

Interesting movie cast, for the most part.

Describe how well you think this film was adapted from the story? What parts of the story were missing? What was maintained? (3)

Well, some parts of the movie stayed the same, they added a lot to it though. The parts that were missing were just really small detailed parts towards characters however. For example, J.D. was suppose to be big and fat, as well as Maggie's sister, but they were the complete opposite. Also the part where Frankie beats the crap out of J.D. was missing too. The parts that were maintained were the parts that had a lot to do with the dialogue of the story. "Remember what my daddy did to axel?" stayed the same, which I thought was a dramatic moment in both the story and the book.

What additional plot lines and characters were added to the movie that added positively to the film? Explain how these characters and stories enhanced our sympathies toward Maggie and Frankie, and also improved the movie overall? (5)

Scrap, played by Morgan Freeman, was a good way to incorporate a better connection between Maggie and Frankie. Danger added positivity towards the film because it really showed how good of a man Scrap was. Willie was a good way to tell Frankie he should be done with managing and move on, which later transitioned to Frankie managing Maggie. I thought it was wrong how they didn't make Blue bald though. I pictured some nasty looking lady to play the part of Blue, but noooooo. They wanted to make Blue be girly when she was out of the rink and stuff. It aggitates me when stuff like that [comparing the movie to the book] happens.

What do you believe about assisted suicide? Do you believe that Frankie made the right choice? (2)

Maggie wanted help. I would probably do the same thing/feel the same way if I was in either position. Assisted suicide sounds like a hard concept to understand, but if the person you loved was going through so much pain and needed to end it, wouldn't you do the same thing?

Both the story and the movie end after Frankie's painful choice. What do you think happens next in his life? Will he return to training? Boxing? (2)

He probably went into a deep depression. Frankie thought of Maggie as his own daughter. If I were him I'd probably just retire and dive deep into alcoholism. In the story, he did drink jameson to help him cope with the decision he was about to make. So my assumption is that he will now fall into a downwards spiral and suffer from sever depression. As pessimistic as that may sound, it does seem logical in his situation.