Tracker Pixel for Entry

​Bharoocha Flexes ‘Golden Arm’

Cinema | October 17th, 2021

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmail.com

Maureen Bharoocha’s “Golden Arm” applies the irresistible combination of long-haul trucking and competitive arm wrestling in the tradition of Menahem Golan’s 1987 Sylvester Stallone cult nugget “Over the Top.”

Close friendship replaces father-son bonding as the emotional heartbeat of the story, and Bharoocha, working from a very funny screenplay by Ann Marie Allison and Jenna Milly, capitalizes on the opportunity to imagine a cartoonish subculture grounded in pathos.

Originally programmed as part of the canceled 2020 South by Southwest festival, “Golden Arm” had to settle for a small theatrical run and an April 2021 arrival on-demand. As a result, the film has received less love and attention than it deserves.

Television comedy and Upright Citizens Brigade veteran Mary Holland is Melanie, an about-to-be-divorced baker struggling to make a success of her profession. Truck-driving best friend Danny, played by fellow UCB alum Betsy Sodaro, convinces Mel to close up shop for a few days and join her on a delivery.

Bharoocha rockets through basic exposition on the way to revealing Danny’s real plan: enter Mel into the arm wrestling nationals being held in Oklahoma City. The purse is fifteen grand, but the bigger prize is an opportunity for the pals to rebuild the tight bonds of their younger days.

Naturally, the cautious, vanilla Mel (who blanches at Danny’s liberal use of descriptive profanity, especially a certain term applied to genitalia) initially resists the call to step up, but Danny’s powers of persuasion and the desperation to collect the handsome winnings convince her otherwise. Unable to compete, Danny’s own wrestling arm is wrapped up in a brace, which adds another layer of pressure.

Bharoocha seizes on the script’s episodic structure to explore multiple genres; “Golden Arm” works as both a road movie and as a tournament/elimination-style sports contest, but the relationship of Mel and Danny always sits squarely at the heart of the film.

Bharoocha also manages a colorful gallery of supporting characters, each of whom adds to the circus. Revealing a steady hand and deft touch for romance, the director nails the scenes shared by Holland and Eugene Cordero, who plays referee Greg. The dialogue anticipating their flirtatious magic hour kiss against the chain link fence at a baseball diamond is one of the year’s sexiest screen conversations.

De rigueur training montages get an assist from Dot-Marie Jones. Olivia Stambouliah’s Brenda the Bone Crusher, Mel and Danny’s bête noire, is a delightfully hissable nemesis (so many of the arm wrestling personae boast sweet monikers). Ron Funches as organizer Carl, Danny’s friends-with-benefits hookup, is as wonderfully awkward as Ahmed Bharoocha’s Jerry, who serves as Danny’s personal gofer and Swiss Army knife.

It is not difficult to picture a studio-backed “Golden Arm” with a bigger budget and the likes of Kristen Wiig as Mel and Melissa McCarthy as Danny, but the scrappier and scruffier version that got made is somehow more perfect because of its limitations and rough edges. Holland and Sodaro are so effortlessly good together, their characters evoking the kind of visual contrast unforgettably rendered by Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, that they deserve every bit as much recognition as better known A-list comics. The scene-stealing Sodaro’s work as the lusty, foul-mouthed, wrecking-ball extrovert is equal to the best of Jack Black and Zach Galifianakis.

__________________________

YOU SHOULD KNOW

Currently you are able to watch "Golden Arm" streaming on Max Go, Cinemax Amazon Channel, DIRECTV or buy it as download on Apple iTunes, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, and Redbox.

Recently in:

By Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.com Ten North Dakota communities will participate in the nationwide No Kings Day of Peaceful Action on October 18. The grassroots movement is a nonviolent protest against President Trump’s…

By Kooper Shagenakoopershagena@gmail.com One night, Jane Linde Capistran, associate conductor of the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra, sat and drank wine with her friends: “Jennifer Tackling, the associate concertmaster, and…

Friday, October 31, 5-9 p.m.Ziti’s Italian American Restaurant, 3150 Sheyenne St., Suite 170, West FargoSavor a delectable five course meal with beverage pairings. (Nonalcoholic beverages are available upon request, but must be…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com At the end of September, downtown Fargo said goodbye to another old friend; the Spirit Room closed its doors, marking the end of an era. The Spirit Room room has been a fixture downtown for the…

By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comWill we be banging or whimpering at the end of the American empire?T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Hollow Men” accurately portrays the end of most empires in his first lines: “We are the hollow men/…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Holiday wine shopping shouldn’t have to be complicated. But unfortunately it can cause unneeded anxiety due to an overabundance of choices. Don’t fret my friends, we once again have you covered…

By Rick Gion and Nichole Hensenrickgion@gmail.com The wait is finally over. Those who have visited Nichole’s Fine Pastry & Cafe lately know about the recent major additions and renovations that have taken place over the past…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com Dakotah Faye is a hip-hop artist from Minot, North Dakota, and he’s had a busy year. He’s released two albums. This summer he opened for Tech N9ne in Sturgis and will be opening for Bone…

By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com Dream-factory documentarian Alexandre O. Philippe connects with a Hollywood legend in “Kim Novak’s Vertigo,” the latest in a series of features exploring the filmmaker’s many…

By HPR staffsubmit@hpr1.com Mark the first weekend of October on your calendar. It’s the weekend of the Studio Crawl, which takes us all on a wonderful, metro-wide tour of our talented (and often wacky) arts community. On October…

Press release“Shakespeare with a sharpened edge.” To launch its 2025 – 2026 season, Theatre NDSU is thrilled to team up with Moorhead-based organization Theatre B to perform a co-production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and…

By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…

By Ellie Liveranieli.liverani.ra@gmail.com When we are sick, all we want is a cure. You go to the doctor, they give you a pill, you take it for a bit, then you are cured. It happens. But unfortunately, it is not always the case. …

By Alicia Underlee NelsonProtests against President Trump’s policies and the cuts made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are planned across North Dakota and western Minnesota Friday, April 4 and…

By Vern Thompsonvern.thompson@rocketmail.comMoral accountability and the crisis of leadership  As a recovering person living one day at a time for the last 35 years, I have learned not to judge others because I have not walked in…