The Fighter (2010)

Mickey Ward (Mark Wahlberg) is a good fighter, but he hasn't received good breaks.  His family encourages his boxing career, and his half-brother Dickie Eklund (Christian Bale) has been training Mickey since he was a kid.  But family doesn't always know best.  The guys' mom, Alice (Melissa Leo), as well as their sisters, turns a blind eye to Dickie's crack addition problem.  After Mickey is pressured into taking a fight where he gives up nearly 20 pounds to his opponent, Micky begins to wonder if he should continue boxing. 

Mickey meets a tough barmaid named Charlene (Amy Adams) who believes in him.  She also sees how his family is holding him back, and she's not afraid to speak up about that.  Then Dickie gets into major trouble with the law and briefly drags Micky along with him.  Mickey slowly starts to realize he has to take charge of how things go in his life, but his family is not going to let go without a fight. 

The real "Irish" Mickey Ward and his half-brother Dickie Eklund appear as themselves during the closing credits of this movie.  The love between the two men is apparent, but as the film shows, it was a love that went through some hard times.  Family loyalty can be a good thing, but it can also be stifling if it runs amuck.