A fast-talking fight promoter who needs money to pay off a loan shark stumbles upon a gentle giant who might be the answer to his problems in “Knucklehead,” a 2010 movie that could have been made in 1940.
The movie stars Mark Feuerstein of TV’s “Royal Pains” as the cynical promoter, and WWE performer Paul “The Big Show” Wight as the big man he meets at an orphanage, where the giant is a hapless bumbler who works with kids because he possesses a sparkly-eyed adolescent soul.
The two of them, plus another orphanage worker (Melora Hardin of “The Office”) who seems to be around because the script demands a love interest, travel the back roads to a mixed martial arts tournament in New Orleans as the big fella squashes opponents along the way. Only Dennis Farina, as the loan shark on their trail, injects any life into this tired family comedy from the movie-making arm of WWE.
“Knucklehead” ‘s candy corn heart and shameless predictability are almost touching in their obliviousness to anything that’s happened in movies in recent decades. Cute orphans? Really? But as an actor, Paul Wight is in a class with Andre the Giant.