‘The Smashing Machine’ Review: Dwayne Johnson Gets a Do-Over in Benny Safdie’s Endearing Anti-Awards-Bait MMA Biopic

Venice: Safdie’s endearing duet between Johnson as an opioid-addicted MMA fighter and Emily Blunt as his codependent girlfriend sounds in and out of the ring like the stuff of awards fodder. In Safdie’s hands, the film uses those tropes for something gentler than its heavyweight material suggests.