The Torch

‘The Smashing Machine’ and Hollywood’s Obsession With Biopics

Oct. 3 marked the release of “The Smashing Machine” and the film’s director, writer, producer and editor, Benny Safdie’s, ...
The Ithacan

Dwayne Johnson fights for the role he was born to play in ‘The Smashing Machine’

When thinking of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, an acclaimed, award-deserving actor is not the first thing that comes to mind.
Cageside Press

Bas Rutten On Playing Himself in The Smashing Machine

UFC legend Bas Rutten played himself in the recent Dwayne Johnson vehicle The Smashing Machine — a rather unique set of circumstances, since the movie is not a documentary. In other words, Rutten had ...
Decider

Is ‘The Smashing Machine’ Movie Streaming on Netflix or HBO Max?

It’s clobbering time for The Rock in The Smashing Machine, the new biopic about MMA fighter Mark Kerr, which opens in theaters this weekend. There’s no one better to play a ...
ABC News

Dwayne Johnson opens up about unrecognizable 'Smashing Machine' transformation

Johnson stars in the new movie as MMA and UFC fighter Mark Kerr. Dwayne Johnson is opening up about his transformation in the upcoming A24 film "The Smashing Machine." Johnson portrays mixed martial ...
Sherdog

Bas Rutten Trumpets ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s Performance in ‘The Smashing Machine’

Bas Rutten (far left) appears as himself in “The Smashing Machine.” | 📷: Eric Charbonneau/A24/Getty Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson by all accounts poured himself into playing Mark Kerr, the two-time ...
SFGate

'He transformed himself': The Rock wears heavy prosthetics in dramatic role

TORONTO — Few actors are as well-recognized and easily typecast as the affable Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, but in “The Smashing Machine” from director Benny Safdie, Johnson disappears into his most ...
The Washington Post

‘The Smashing Machine’ shows a different facet (and face) of the Rock

Dwayne Johnson stars as fighter Mark Kerr in Benny Safdie’s mixed martial arts drama. “The Smashing Machine” is a strange one: a bio-drama about the emotional sensitivities of a professional fighter.
FilmBook

The Smashing Machine Review

The Smashing Machine (2025) Film Review from the 50th Annual Toronto International Film Festival, a movie directed and written by Benny Safdie, and starring Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Lyndsey Gavin, ...
Rolling Stone

‘The Smashing Machine’ Could Frankly Use a Bit More Smashing

With a title like The Smashing Machine, one might expect writer-director Benny Safdie’s first solo-directed feature to be a brutal, grinding sit. The film is based on the 2002 documentary of the same ...
The New Yorker

“The Smashing Machine” Pulls Its Punches

Only two kinds of actors are bad: those who can’t be themselves and those who you wish wouldn’t be. All the rest are likely to shine in movies by good directors, and most actors whose reputations aren ...