It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Expected more

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Other than the performance by Schrieber the movie was slow and boring. The guy was a sorry character.

"Chuck" is a sad, albeit entertaining, story about a loser with a heart of gold.Wepner was called "the bleeder" due to his always seeming to get cut in his fights. The real-life Chuck needed 72 stitches after his loss against the brutal punching Sonny Liston. He also lost to George Foreman, Liston's successor as the most feared man in boxing.Wepner was, in short, a fan favourite not due to boxing skill, but due to his toughness and heart.Somehow, the stars aligned and Wepner found himself ranked in the top ten. Don King wanted a white guy to fight his champion, Muhammad Ali, who had just done the impossible and defeated Foreman. No one gave Wepner a hope in hell of defeating Ali, and the truth was, he didn't have one, either. But he almost went the distance, and he knocked Ali down.This was the fight that inspired "Rocky". Wepner is the Italian Stallian, Ali is Apollo Creed.Then, the fame goes to Wepner's head, and we get a fairly predictable series of failures involving drugs, broken relationships and prison time. Stallone actually wants Wepner to star in "Rocky II", but he's on so many drugs by that stage, he blows the audition. "Chuck" rises above the cliche, however, by keeping its protagonist relatable.It also brings out the real jewel in its crown - not Schreiber, though he is good, but a show-stoppingly brilliant Naomi Watts, who deserved an Oscar for the complete transformation she did into the role of Wepner's second wife. She is unrecognizable, and not just in terms of looks. The performance is stunning.It's easily the best thing about the movie, and everything else kind of pales in comparison to Watts' performance. It's good, but it's not THAT good, unfortunately, and this is a movie of relatively limited interest to anyone who isn't a boxing fan, or a "Rocky" fan.

Greetings from Lithuania."Chuck" (2016) is a superbly crafted and acted true story about a boxer who inspired "Rocky". I loved performances in "Chuck" by simply everyone. Everyone did a great job. Directing and writing were also very solid, because at running time 1 h 35 min this movie never dragged. Overall, "Chuck" story does look familiar and formulaic, but its a great craftsmanship and acting that kinda makes this movie surely not be missed one.

Sylvester Stallone has denied that his character of Rocky Balboa was inspired by heavyweight boxer Chuck Wepner, who fought professionally from 1964 to 1978. Well, let's just take a look at some of what happens in the "Rocky" movies, shall we? In the original "Rocky" (1976), an unknown white boxer was plucked from obscurity and given a shot at the heavyweight title by a flamboyant black champion. No one gave Chuck, er, I mean, no one gave "Rocky" much of a chance, but he trained hard (old-school) and greatly exceeded expectations during the fight. In "Rocky III" (1982), Rocky gets in the boxing ring for a match against a hulking professional wrestler and, at one point, the wrestler picks Rocky up and drops him to the ground outside the ropes. In "Rocky IV" (1985), Rocky watched James Brown sing from inside the ring before a match. In the career of what real life boxer did all those things happen? Chuck Wepner. Who wrote and starred in all six "Rocky" movies? Sylvester Stallone. It's no wonder that Wepner called himself "the real Rocky". Likewise, it's no wonder that the bio-pic dramedy "Chuck" (R, 1:38) was made to tell Wepner's story. I could say more about the details in common between the careers of Rocky and Chuck, but trying to avoid spoilers (in case you don't know Chuck's story), I'll just refer you to something Chuck says in the movie: "You don't know me. Well, you know me, but you don't know you know me." It's worth mentioning up front that this isn't the story of the making of "Rocky". "Chuck" is about Chuck. The release of "Rocky" changed Chuck's life, but he was the same person before, during and after his proverbial 15 minutes of fame. Chuck worked as a liquor distributor to pay the bills. He was a boxer because it was what he did best. He wasn't the quickest, strongest or most successful heavyweight of his day, but he could take a punch. In fact, he could take a whole lot of punches (a beating, really) and keep coming back for more. They called him the Bayonne Bleeder. He hated the name, but he loved the fame. Chuck enjoyed being recognized and treated special – especially by the ladies. Never mind that he had a devoted wife, Phyliss (Elisabeth Moss), and a loving daughter, Kimberly (Sadie Sink), back home… growing increasingly frustrated by the selfish and neglectful way that Chuck was treating them.Chuck's life changed forever in 1975. After Muhammad Ali took the world heavyweight title from George Foreman in the fight known as "the Rumble in the Jungle", Ali said he wanted to fight "a white guy". Since Chuck was the only white guy among the top 10 ranked heavyweight boxers in the world, his manager (Ron Perlman) took care of the details and Chuck Wepner, little known outside of New Jersey, got a shot at the title. For this first time in his career, he trained full time for this fight which took place near Cleveland, OH. Chuck's performance against Ali (Pooch Hall) increased his celebrity greatly. Then he became even more famous the following year when the new movie "Rocky" seemed to mirror his life, especially regarding the Ali fight. As Chuck tried to take advantage of being the guy who inspired the 1976 Best Picture Oscar winner by reaching out to Sylvester Stallone himself, Chuck was also increasing his selfish behaviors, using cocaine and pursuing even more women, including a local bartender named Linda (Naomi Watts), who didn't want anything to do with him… a sentiment now shared by Phyliss."Chuck" is a very entertaining and long-overdue movie. Chuck Wepner's story is indeed the stuff of Hollywood – in the "Rocky" movies – and in this movie which reveals Chuck's story to be as interesting as Rocky's. This film had four writers whose combined efforts really do the story justice. They are Jeff Feuerzeig (known mainly for writing and directing documentaries… including "The Real Rocky" for ESPN), Jerry Stahl (mainly a TV show writer, he also wrote 2003's "Bad Boys II"), Michael Cristofer ("Original Sin", "Bonfire of the Vanities", "The Witches of Eastwick") and Live Schreiber, who, besides being the film's star and co-writer, also helped produce. The screenplay focuses on the drama, but has an effective and organic humor about it. In the hands of director Philippe Falardeau (who directed Reese Witherspoon's 2014 film "The Good Lie"), and in the practically perfect performance of Schreiber, this film portrays the most eventful decade of Chuck's life without judgment, showing his highs and his lows, and never loses sight of his humanity. Another quote from the movie sums it up nicely: "Sometimes life is like a movie. And sometimes it's better." This film is better than most. "A-"