Christy tells the story of Christy Martin, a champion boxer who opened up the sport for women in the 1990s. Sydney Sweeney plays the champ in this biopic.

Christy is based on the true story. Both the film and Sydney Sweeney as the star were endorsed by Christy Martin herself. In fact, Christy Martin makes a brief cameo in the film.

Christy’s early years were full of both triumph and abuse. She knew she was a lesbian. Her first love was Rosie (Jess Gabor). Her horrible mother Joyce Salters (Merritt Wever) shamed her and told her she wasn’t normal. (If you require a horrible mother who seems sweet on the outside, Merritt Wever can do a masterful job of it for you.)

When Christy realized she could make money knocking people out, she found a trainer. He was Jim Martin (Ben Foster). Jim knew she could be his meal ticket almost immediately and took over her life. Christy married him. They were together almost 20 years during her peak years as a boxer. He was manipulative, controlling, and promised things he couldn’t deliver.

The boxing scenes looked real. I read that was because they were real. Sydney Sweeney refused a double and the actors were actually slugging each other as hard as possible. That seems like a dangerous way to use valuable actors, but it does make the film look authentic.

Christy had an amazing record. Very few losses and many knockouts. She had a televised bout on Showtime as a match before the Mike Tyson vs Frank Bruno WBC Heavyweight Championship fight. That made her famous. She was the first female boxer on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

When Christy finally faced her situation with Jim Martin and tried to leave him. He responded by stabbing and shooting her. She survived. (He’s in jail now). One of the people who visited her in the hospital was Lisa Holewyne, a woman she’d faced in the ring and later married.

The film was long. Much of it was a grim and lengthy examination of the domestic violence, abuse, and mistreatment Christy received from Jim Martin. The rest of it was training and boxing. The good news parts of the story–Jim going to jail and Christy finding some happiness at last–were brief blurbs at the end of the film.

From my own personal history, I know how hard it is to leave someone and get out of a bad marriage. Still, I desperately wanted Christy to deck Jim and leave him in the dust long before she was ready to do it. I understand why she didn’t, but I sure wanted to see one of her knockout punches land on him.

I also wanted her to tell her mother to get lost. She didn’t do that either. To his credit, her father, Johnny Salters (Ethan Embry) seemed like a decent man.

Sydney Sweeney did an amazing job in this one. She gained a lot of weight and looked strong and powerful. The film made a big impression on me. I identified with Christy’s struggles and her troubled marriage. Christy Martin is an admirable woman in real life and a real leader in women’s boxing. Here’s to the pioneers!

The film is streaming on HBO Max and Hulu/Disney+.