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<\/p>\nSydney Sweeney had a rough 2025 at the box office, culminating in the launch of a new franchise following the success of The Housemaid. Her earlier flop, Christy, a biopic about the life of American boxer Christy Martin, was a complete bomb in theaters.<\/p>\n
Now that it\u2019s on HBO Max, Sweeney\u2019s home turf thanks to Euphoria, it debuted as the number one movie on the streamer, finally finding success away from the big screen. It\u2019s also continuing the trend for Sweeney of two steps backwards for every one step forward her career takes.<\/p>\n
Sydney Sweeney Comes Out Swinging<\/p>\n
Christy seems like an odd choice for Sydney Sweeney. It\u2019s about the boxing champion, who fought in the first female boxing main event on pay-per-view, the first female boxer on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and easily the most popular female boxer of the 90s. Her rise was sudden, thanks in part to legendary promoter Don King (The Walking Dead\u2019s Chad Coleman), and the support of her husband, James (Ben Foster, who was born to play creeps like James Martin). It\u2019s the latter that led to the downfall of her career and nearly cost her life.<\/p>\n
The meat of\u00a0Christy\u2019s story\u00a0isn\u2019t the boxing career; it\u2019s the abusive, codependent relationship with James, which is especially difficult as Christy\u2019s a lesbian. Closeted to start with, but that doesn\u2019t stop James from going to extreme lengths to retain his control over her. Drugs, sex, blackmail videos, you name it, James does it, right down to attempted murder. It\u2019s an awkward mashup of underdog sports movie and terrifying domestic abuse that doesn\u2019t quite work, but it\u2019s not Sweeney\u2019s fault.<\/p>\n
Christy Is A Tough Story For Hollywood![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/f1b45a9ae030becc99779cf31953fce6.jpeg\"\/)
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Christy Martin goes against Sweeney\u2019s public image<\/a> as a blonde bombshell with great jeans. It\u2019s the same as her earlier film, Reality<\/a>, about Reality Winner\u2019s interrogation by the FBI for her role as a national security whistleblower. These are not glamorous roles, and Sweeney does her best to bring them to life, but in the case of Christy, she\u2019s undercut by a confused script, and going up against the underrated acting powerhouse that is Ben Foster is a task for any performer.<\/p>\n No one was surprised when Christy bombed at the box office with a haul of only $2 million. Fresh off the \u201cgreat jeans\u201d scandal, the film became a lightning rod for a culture war, with one side boycotting and the other showing no interest in a film about a lesbian boxer. It was a no-win situation, which, at the end of the day, with the film\u2019s arrival on streaming<\/a>, ultimately meant nothing. Anyone can now stream it no matter their personal feelings on the actress, in the privacy of their own home, and without paying movie theater prices, which means a lot of Sweeney fans are now checking it out, and a lot of her detractors are now hate-watching.<\/p>\n At the end of the day, it\u2019s a lot of online discourse over a film that\u2019s ultimately, decent. Christy isn\u2019t the best boxing movie, it\u2019s not the best movie about domestic violence, but it is a close examination of the fascinating life of Christy Martin, who today, is living her best life as an out lesbian with her partner, and given the hell she endured to get there, you can\u2019t help but cheer for her. As for Sydney Sweeney, Euphoria<\/a> Season 3 is about to debut, so you might want to stay off social media for a few days.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/98f6382b9164b1c19638338f3a374349.jpeg\"\/)
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