‘BUSTED UP’: BARE-FISTED MELODRAMA

Most movies that open without previews cheat the undiscriminating, but “Busted Up” (Citywide) is that rare exception to the rule.

It’s a gritty, lively little urban melodrama in which a young boxer (Paul Coufos) hits the brutal, bare-fisted underground circuit in order to raise enough money to save the inner city gym he owns with his manager (Stan Shaw) from greedy land developers. At the same time, he’s caught up in a tempestuous love affair with an aspiring singer (Irene Cara) who disapproves of boxing as much as he objects to the sleazy clubs in which she’s forced to pursue her career.

Made with more heart than style or sense, “Busted Up” does not bear close scrutiny in its plot development. Not for an instant do Coufos or Shaw consider recourse to the law or even to organizing their friends and neighbors to help stave off the land-grab; all that was needed were simple scenes showing government bureaucratic red tape and community timidity to motivate a course of action that after all could endanger the career and even life of Coufos, already afflicted with vision problems. But then director Conrad E. Palmisano and writer Damian Lee are so into superman fantasy heroics that they even have Coufos ambushed and beaten with a tire iron the very day of his biggest fight.

Luckily, settings in the seedier side of Toronto and some smart casting lend an aura of authenticity. The well-built Coufos, in his first major screen role, and the reliable Shaw work up solid, breezy rapport. Cara, who has several dynamic songs, is fine, but has a decidedly subordinate role because the film emphasizes boxing over its love story. Tony Rosato is totally convincing as the neighborhood penny-ante crook in the pay of the uptown developers. “Busted Up” is appropriately rated R.

‘BUSTED UP’ A Shapiro Entertainment release of a Rose and Ruby production. Executive producer Lawrence Nesis. Producers Damian Lee, David Mitchell. Director Conrad E. Palmisano. Screenplay Damian Lee. Associate producer Curt Petersen. Camera Ludvik Bogner. Music Charles Barnett. Art director Stephen Surjik. Costumes Nancy Kaye. Stunt coordinator Ted Hanlan. Fight coordinator Tony Morelli. 2nd unit director David Mitchell. Film editor Gary Zubek. With Paul Coufos, Stan Shaw, Irene Cara, Tony Rosato, Frank Pellegrino, Gordon Judges, Nika Kaufhold.

Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.

MPAA rating: R (Under 17 requires an accompanying parent or adult guardian.)