Million Dollar Baby

Bent on becoming a professional boxer, plucky 31-year-old Missouri waitress Maggie Fitzgerald sets foot in silver-haired trainer Frankie Dunn’s run-down gym. Instead, Maggie’s request for permission to train receives a flat refusal from the cantankerous, coarse, and overly complicated old-school boxing guru. However, as sheer determination forces the reluctant mentor to relent, Maggie soon finds herself on the fast track to making her dream come true. Little by little, an unbreakable father/daughter bond develops between them, and for the first time in a long while, both Dunn and Maggie seem to have found purpose in life. But is Maggie indeed Frankie’s million-dollar baby?—Nick Riganas