Meg Ryan ditched her kooky blonde routine to play hard-bitten boxing promoter Jackie Kallen in Against The Ropes, but that didn't save this real-life sporting yarn from being "irredeemably lightweight". The same could be said for its impact at the box office, where a flyweight in feather-stuffed oven-mitts could have made more of an impression.

This DVD isn't exactly a heavyweight package either. Aside from the obligatory theatrical trailer, we're only offered two rather bland featurettes.

A Few Scraps

A Ringside Seat is a standard, studio-produced look at the making of the film, featuring interview snippets with director Charles S Dutton, stars Meg Ryan and Omar Epps, plus the real Jackie Kallen. There's also a brief look at the stunt choreography, which helped to make those boxing bouts look "so convincing". However, the most interesting titbit comes courtesy of America's ex-sweetheart, who reveals methods of research that include stalking parking lots at night to watch illegal fist fights - or, as the tabloids like to call it, just another night out with Russell Crowe.

Hollywood Bust Up

Tributes are paid to the ball-busting - and just plain busty - Jackie Kallen in Queen Of The Ring. And in case you thought Meg Ryan had overdone it with the collagen-enhanced trout mouth, you're in for a shock here. But we should show some reverence to the feisty boxing promoter, who tells the remarkable rags-to-bitches story in her own words - words, she says, that were chopped and changed at every stage of this Hollywood production.

Conversely, Dutton passes up the opportunity to talk us through the action, so there's no chance of getting a technical or retrospective view on this film. Frankly, as DVDs go, this one eats mat.

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