The Philly Kid is a so so film. Never really get invested in the characters, but it's not dull.

So Wes Chatham looks like Michael C Hall, talking about the monster inside and Sarah Butler's a bit like a Jena Malone kind of beautiful and looks like she could go a few rounds herself, she says something like "I see the good in you." Dexter similarity...hah. Sawa again seems out of place. It all works out a bit too nicely in the end and a bit amateurish.

Ever since the popularity of HUNGER GAMES the concept of watching young people in cages fight each other with no holds barred even to the death, have proliferated. Says something about the audience desires, or fads, or the gladiator mentality in all mankind since the Roman arenas. THE PHILLY KID is a low budget little pertinent drama that for the genre is better than the usual. Written by Adam Mervis (who also acts the role of the main character's understanding parole officer) and directed with fine pacing by Jason Connery, the movie somehow catches fire - likely due to a cast of up and coming young actors.

Dillon (Wes Chatham, a hunk newbie the camera loves) is a former NCAA champion wrestler has just been released form 10 years in prison for braking the neck of a thug during a holdup in front of a liquor store where he (at around age 16) was buying alcohol with a fake ID for his friend Jake (Devon Sawa, impressive in a difficult role). Dillon now lives in a filthy halfway house and is without money until his old friend Jake finds him a job in a liquor store owned by a kindly man Lenny (Bernard Hocke). Jake's sister Amy (Sarah Butler) is on the scene and eventually becomes the love interest for Dillon. It seems Jake is heavily in debt to conman Ace (Lucky Johnson) and Jake, knowing Dillon's ability as a wrestler, pleads with Dillon to fight for money in the underground cage fighting scene to save a Jake's life. Another evil force is the police officer Marks (Chris Browning) who arrested Dillon and who hates him and threatens his life if he doesn't fix a fight. Dillon trains, wins some fights, (he is supposed to fight only three fights for Ace to release Jake's debt),and is observed and ultimately trained by LA Jim (Neal McDonough). From there on it is a succession of bloody fights and gore until the end finds a resolution.

The cat is strong and is supported by some solid work by Eric Scott Woods and Michael Jai White. It is always satisfying to see new faces take on tough roles and this cadre of actors pulls it off very well. Not a great film, but a well crafted one for the genre.

Grady Harp

The Philly Kid is a film about the Mixed Martial Arts fight game and if you think it's set in Philadelphia as I did you will be wrong. It is set in New Orleans and curiously enough nobody in that whole cast speaks with anything remotely resembling an accent you would find in New Orleans. You might as well have set the film in Philadelphia.

Other than that this is a pretty good film in the tradition of such fine boxing films like Champion, The Set-Up, The Square Jungle and the more recent Split Decisions. Young Wes Chatham and his friends Devon Sawa and Kris Von Damme are just out for an evening and truly and innocently get involved in a cop killing. Von Damme is dead, Sawa is wounded and Chatham does 10 years for something he didn't do.

Chatham was at one a promising college wrestler and when he gets out he finds Sawa in heavy to some gamblers. He learns the mixed martial arts game and agrees to some fights to get Sawa out of debt. He also falls for Sawa's sister Sarah Butler.

Like those other cited films The Philly Game is very honest and lucid about showing all the crookedness and double dealing that goes on. It's realistic and at times very brutal. Chatham has to navigate between gangsters, crooked promoters, and one bad crooked cop.

The fight scenes are as realistic as when I've looked in on real mixed martial arts matches. My favorite scene is when Chatham is drugged during a match and still comes out on top. All due to a fighting heart and an old wrestling maneuver.

The Philly Game did not get much notice coming out, but it's an undiscovered diamond in the raw if you look.