The boxing movie – usually it goes something like this: punch, punch, win, life tragedy, train, train, train, punch, punch, punch, win or lose, and finally redemption. That’s all well and fine, but it’s usually pretty similar. “Southpaw,” starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Forest Whitaker is another in a long line of “troubled protagonist trains his way to redemption” movies, but without much of the inspiration or dramatic heft of its predecessors.

Above all, “Southpaw” is a strongly titled, albeit plodding experience. This was one of those movies where my “watch checks” reached double digits. Gyllenhaal is convincing and committed; Whitaker is as gruff and secretly troubled as you could ask for; and Rachel McAdams is as charming and alluring as ever — but it’s not enough. Fancy rims and extra cup holders does not a fast or efficient car make.

“Southpaw” will likely land near the bottom of director Antoine Fuqua’s body of work, far below “Training Day” and “Shooter” but far above the hot mess that was 2004’s “King Arthur.”

For boxing aficionados, this might be a decent bit of entertainment but for the typical movie-goer “Southpaw” has little of the inspiration and even less of the dynamic characters of films like “Rocky,” “Million Dollar Baby,” and “The Fighter.”

In all fairness, I chose to see “Southpaw” last weekend because I absolutely refused to go anywhere near the abomination that surely was “Pixels” and couldn’t get past the incredible profound eyebrows of former Victoria’s Secret model Cara Delevingne, who stars in “Paper Towns.” “Southpaw” seemed like the better choice, and maybe it was, it’s currently sits at 58% on Rotten Tomatoes as compared to “Paper Towns” 57% and “Pixels” laughable 18%. “Southpaw” is simply the best of a bad weekend at the movies.

3 of 6 stars