The Smashing Machine (2025)

I love that Captain Capitalism finally ate shit when he tried to make an earnest play at being a legit drama actor. Schadenfreude tastes sweet. The Rock finally tried to be a serious actor and bombed so hard the movie became a meta-commentary on failure.

I love that Captain Capitalist finally ate shit when he tried to make an earnest play at being a legit drama actor. But I’m also genuinely sad that my boy Benny Safdie made a bomb on his solo directorial debut. The man deserves better than this.

I’ve actually watched the 1999 documentary this is based on, and honestly, I prefer the documentary. This feature film gets a little shaggy in the second act when it should be building momentum. I wish it was a tight 90 minutes instead of meandering around. That pacing problem hurts it.

That said, I do love the 90s aesthetics - the production design, the wardrobe, the costuming. Safdie clearly did his homework on capturing that specific era of MMA when it was still finding its identity. Visually, this nails the grimy, unglamorous world of early mixed martial arts.

And here’s the thing: The Rock is actually doing pretty good in this. He gives a solid, grounded performance as Mark Kerr. It’s easily his best dramatic work. But I just hate him so much as a man - the corporate brand bullshit, the calculated image management, the Disney shill energy - that I can’t bring myself to care. He’s good here, but I’m still glad this failed for him personally.

I honestly don’t understand why this wasn’t a bigger hit with the podcast bro male audience. It should have hit all those marks - MMA, masculinity, professional combat, 90s nostalgia. But whatever. It bombed.

What I love most about this movie is how it ultimately emulated the themes of its own story. It’s about dealing with the aftermath of professional failure, and then it failed professionally. Sometimes life imitates art, and sometimes the box office imitates mediocre movies about decline.

There’s something almost poetic about that. Benny Safdie made a film about a fighter who couldn’t escape his demons, and the film itself couldn’t escape its own problems. The Rock played a guy whose career fell apart, and then watched the movie fall apart at the box office.

It’s not a disaster - there are good performances and strong craft on display. But it’s not the knockout either of them needed. Just like Mark Kerr.

Also on Letterboxd