We recently attended an exclusive preview of the movie Fighting With My Family in New York City and meet with the cast and director afterward for a question-and-answer session.

Fighting With My Family, a new film about a wrestling family featuring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, appeals to all sports fans who love inspirational stories. This one tugs at your heart strings and has you cheering throughout. My family scored it a nine out of 10 because it was engaging, humorous and left us tingling with delight as we exited the theater. For those of you with younger children, Fighting With My Family carries a PG-13 rating which should not be a major worry. It seems based on the small dose of cursing rather than violence.

This moving film is based on a true story about World Wrestling Entertainment Divas champ Paige. It’s an emotional tale about family and relationships. Fighting With My Family introduces us to the father (Nick Frost) dabbling in amusing stunts to boost his struggling wrestling academy in England, while navigating his role as a father to two talented wrestlers struggling to achieve their dreams. The brother/sister relationship was a powerful and relateable one. Older brother Zak (Jack Lowden) and his sister Raya/Paige (Florence Pugh) initially have an ironclad bond that gets trampled when he gets passed over for a golden opportunity. Meanwhile, his sister gets selected for her big break — traveling abroad to Miami to train with wrestling’s NXT (a farm system for WWE Main Events). Their relationship flows impressively through this success story. It’s sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes inspirational especially at the end when we needed tissues.

Prepare to be thrilled by Johnson’s hilarious, supporting role as well as lots of WWE cameos throughout the film. Bravo to Raya/Paige’s NXT coach, Hutch (Vince Vaughn), because his insults, presence, and motivation ensured that the audience never loses interest. Additionally, the powerful messaging and life lessons woven into this film add the spice that makes this indie style film sizzle. As Johnson points out, “Don’t try to be like me. Be the first you.”

This particular lesson is later reiterated during a Q&A with the stars from the Fighting With My Family (see more highlights below) where WWE’s Paige enthusiastically said, “Being yourself is your superpower. Always stay true to yourself.” That poignant message made for great fodder for my son and I to discuss afterward.

Based on an incredible true story, Fighting With My Family opened in select theaters Feb. 14, and everywhere else Feb. 22. We recommend you see it!

Exclusive Q&A with ‘Fighting with My Family’ director, cast

After the screening, my 10-year-old son and I were invited to the exclusive press junket for Fighting With My Family when the talented director and cast rolled into town. We wanted to share some highlights from the thoughtful conversation with actots Lena Headey, Nick Frost, Florence Pugh, and Jack Lowden, director Stephen Merchant and WWE Divas champ, Paige:

Q: How does it feel to go through so many hurdles and challenges and later success … and now seeing your story told through this lens and on such a massive platform?

WWE’s Paige: It’s bizarre because at the time (of my life ) you don’t realize how many obstacles you’re going through until it is being told on the big screen and Stephen Merchant did such an amazing job trying to capture everything as accurate as possible. But yeah, it’s very bizarre and very surreal and then sometimes I have to sit back and (reflect) she’s so good at what she does that I forget that Florence is playing me and I forget that it’s my story.

Q: Drawing on the fatherhood experience, what helped you shape the character and type of dad you were in the film thinking back and reflecting on the types of experiences you’ve had in your own life?

Actor Nick Frost (who play Rick): I have two kids and I think from my point of view, I would literally do anything to make sure that they were safe and happy. You can have a violent past and be in prison and make mistakes (like the character I’m portraying in the film) and be a good dad, those things aren’t mutually exclusive. I think once you know that Ricky is a rough, hard man who’s made mistakes but he is also a good kind man who’s a loving father.

Q: What advice would you give someone who wants to start out, like you guys who’ve never been in the ring and now you’ve had this opportunity. What would you say you should remember to do, not to do?

WWE’s Paige: Tuck your chin. When it comes to wrestling the first things, you’re going to be learning is to fall properly and that’s the best thing that can avoid a banged head, a little stinger. So always tuck your chin; I learned that straight away. And also in wrestling, I would say be patient because it isn’t just handed to you. It’s a lot harder than how it looks and the same thing that Dwayne Johnson tells everybody is to stay humble and hungry when it comes to wrestling. Humble because you want to be able to work with everybody and hungry because you don’t want to get complacent because that’s the biggest downfall.

I think part of the message of the film is that nothing is easy whether it’s wrestling or anything else. Doors will be closed in your face, people will sometimes say no, sometimes you won’t fit in, sometimes you will be rejected and you just have to keep moving forward. You know you have to keep taking the punches and if you are passionate about it you just keep plowing on and eventually the doors will open and that is certainly true of all of us in our careers. I’m sure we could all have individual stories of the times where it didn’t pan out so. It’s hard sometimes to remember that and you could give up, you could get depressed but I think it’s all of us and I think certainly Paige’s story is that just keep moving forward.

Q: I haven’t seen any wrestling movies before, and I really loved it. My question was what was the hardest scene to film?

Florence Pugh (who plays Raya/Paige): You know I’d say the hardest scenes were hard because you had to be so careful. For the wrestling scenes, we’d go all day for probably about three days in a row to try and complete this one little scene that probably flashes before your eyes in under 10 seconds. But we are wrestling and it’s serious stuff so everything had to go really slowly and we had to make sure that everybody was completely safe. We would start that fight in the morning and we probably got a quarter of the way through by the end of the day and those were probably be the longest.

Disclosure: NYC Dads Group received no compensation other than an invitation to an advanced screening and Q&A to facilitate the review. Thoughts and opinions are honest and haven’t been swayed by the complimentary experience.

What is the hardest part of parenting? For many, the answer is smack-down clear: discipline.

Why? In part because we live in a stew of philosophies ranging from attachment to free-range parenting, all of which merely season the stock of how we were disciplined (or not disciplined) by our own parents.

As the father of two daughters, I have wrestled with discipline issues  —especially sibling rivalry — for many years. My struggle peaked a few years ago when I caught myself in a parental fantasy at an unlikely place: a World Wresting Entertainment show. (Some call it “fake wrestling,” but John Stossel once got slapped using that term, so let’s just call it “wrestling.”)

How did I end up at a WWE event? Every December, my brother and I try to travel back to our hometown to take our nephew to a professional hockey game. But that particular year there was no game available. I suggested we shoot some pool; my brother said let’s check out WWE. I groaned but agreed.

I was unprepared for the passion of the fans — or should I say, fanatics! The crowd knew everything about each hero or villain wrestler who emerged from the tunnel on the way into the ring. In fact, each featured wrestler had his or her own theme music, and the moment the first note sounded, the fans leapt to their feet either in cheers or jeers. My nephew was so infuriated by one villain that he lost his composure and yelled: “He thinks he’s the shit, but he’s not!” (My father instinct disapproved of the language, but my uncle instinct just laughed.)

Another fascinating part of the experience was the fans’ frantic desire to see the “finishing move” of each wrestler. If you’ve never seen a WWE match, the featured wrestler usually wins via his trademark finishing move, which is actually included in the printed program. If the wrestler’s finishing move is the “atomic elbow,” fans start chanting “give him the atomic elbow!” The wrestler eventually obliges, throws the elbow and wins the match, much to the fans’ delight.

Enter my fantasy. What if each parent had his or her own finishing move that could solve any disciplinary situation, especially sibling squabbles? You know, a method that is actually effective and “finishes” the situation, as opposed to the methods we use now, which often entail a messy aftermath of resentment, remorse, and in worst cases years of therapy.

Parent-as-heroic-wrestler to the rescue

Imagine the scene: two siblings are fighting (again), and as if from an arena’s tunnel a parent emerges. Theme music begins; adoring fans roar; the parent enters the room. Each sibling knows the parent’s trademark finishing move, so they chant for it to be applied to their rival, who they know to be wrong. “Give her the timeout” they yell, or “the grounding.” The parent obliges, achieves discipline and restores peace and justice, much to the children’s satisfaction.

After reading the list of finishing moves in the WWE program, I suspected that some of these wrestlers are parents. My favorites were “Attitude Adjustment,” “Last Ride,” “Clothesline from Hell,” and “GTS (Go to Sleep).” In my case, the finishing move has often been “The Loud Voice.” But I’m not proud when I use it, and I usually ask for forgiveness after the fact. While the discipline situation may be finished by The Loud Voice, it is rarely resolved. Perhaps I should rename my move the “Last Resort Before Dad Needs a Timeout,” but that might be even less effective.

Finally, no fantasy is complete without a name change: “Dad” and “Mom” just won’t do. Wrestlers are famous for their outrageous titles, as the program showed. Fathers might emulate “The Extreme Educator.” Mothers might get inspired by “The Glamazon” (or maybe not). As for my fantasy name, “Iron Dad” comes to mind, complete with Black Sabbath “I … am … Iron … Dad” theme music. But Ozzy Osbourne’s reality TV stint took the edge off that song for me.

Plus, I’m a veteran stay-at-home dad. So maybe I’ll tweak it to “Ironing Dad.”

Wresting with discipline photo: Chris Chow on Unsplash