Strength Built From Accountability

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MOVIE REVIEWS
Undercard
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Genre: Drama, Sports
Year Released: 2025
Runtime: 1h 46m
Director(s): Tamika Miller
Writer(s): Anita M. Cal, Tamika Miller
Cast: Wanda Sykes, Bentley Green, William Stanford Davis, Berto Colón, Roselyn Sánchez
Where to Watch: releasing in select theaters February 27, 2026

RAVING REVIEW: What does redemption cost when the person you’d need to be forgiven by has every reason not to forgive you? UNDERCARD isn’t interested in handing out simple answers, and it’s this refusal which, in the end, gives the film its strongest moments. The basic idea is one we’ve seen before, with a former boxing champion, now a trainer, and in recovery from alcoholism, goes back into her grown-up son’s life after time away. He’s skilled, but doesn’t apply himself, and is with people who want to make something of his ability, people who’ll take advantage. She thinks this is one final chance, not just to make someone a fighter, but to fix what she broke. But UNDERCARD isn’t, first and foremost, a sports story about someone making a comeback. It’s a story about facing up to what you’ve done, which just happens to be set in and around a boxing gym. This is how the film keeps itself from being a one-dimensional copy of a redemption story.

Tamika Miller directs with a clear sense that the ring isn’t where the film’s heart is. The conflict is in what people say, what they don’t say, and how they resist. Boxing is both a framework and a symbol, but Miller doesn’t let it drown out the importance of the people involved. The movie’s pace shows this. We do get the obligatory training scenes, but they’re less important than the business of people trying to be in the same place without reopening old scars.

Wanda Sykes gives the best performance in the film, and not because it’s a big, showy role. Her work as Cheryl “No Mercy” Stewart is about holding back. She doesn’t go for huge, dramatic collapses or big apologies. Instead, she plays Cheryl as someone who understands the harm she’s done and doesn’t expect to be let off the hook. This gives the character real strength. When she does show weakness, it feels natural, and as if she’s earned it, not as if it was pre-ordained.

Sykes’ gift for comedy comes out sometimes, not as jokes, but more in timing. She knows when to let a line fall flat, when to make emotion less powerful with a dry delivery, and when to let silence mean more than anything anyone could say. It’s a performance that knows itself, and it holds the film together, even when the story isn’t quite sure where it’s going.

Bentley Green is just as good as Keith, the son who has every reason to push his mother away. Green doesn’t make him the predictable, angry type. Keith’s anger is kept inside and focused; it’s been formed by years of being let down, not by sudden shock. He’s best in scenes where he doesn’t argue, but just won’t deal with his mother. The film understands that bitterness doesn’t always present itself in screams. It can also be shown as not caring, sarcasm, or simply refusing to be involved.

Their relationship is the core of UNDERCARD, and the film is at its best when it stays true to that. The push and pull between what people should do and what they feel like doing feels real. Cheryl’s authority as a trainer is always weakened by her being a ‘bad’ mother, and Keith’s physical skill doesn’t ever really make up for the emotional mess.

The film’s point of view is important. UNDERCARD was made by a team mostly composed of women, and that shows in how responsibility is handled. This isn’t a story about winning through being the strongest. It’s about lasting, fixing things, and the hard work of being there for someone after you’ve failed. The film doesn’t make addiction, being a parent, or forgiveness into morality lessons. Instead, it shows them as things that live on and on, and are never fully sorted out.

Miller’s directing makes listening more important than arguing. Scenes have space to breathe. Characters talk to each other. Time passes without expected results; people expecting some of the sports stories' fast-paced lessons won’t like this, but honestly, it makes the film stronger. UNDERCARD understands that not every fight is won cleanly, and that not every apology is accepted. On that note, as I mentioned earlier, the fights aren’t the focus of the story; this isn’t the film's strength, and it shows. Some of the moments in the ring struggle, but they need to be there to form a cohesive story.

By the time the credits roll, the film hasn’t changed genres, but it has looked at the idea of what a sports film is differently. The boxing story becomes a way of looking at absence and responsibility, not just at winning and overcoming odds. Sykes’ performance alone makes the film worth watching, and Miller’s commitment to stories about people shows a director who values truth over style.

UNDERCARD thrives when emotion is at the center of the story. It’s a film that values honesty over excitement. While this is a unique take for a story focused on athletes, it also gives it a clear voice in a genre already full of examples of the underdog story; this isn’t that, this is the undercard story.

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[photo courtesy of CATALYST STUDIOS, SEISMIC RELEASING]

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