Vince Boudreau and Cesar Dominguez (Woody Harrelson and Antonio Banderas) are two aging boxers and best friends who think they have landed the opportunity of their lives. A sleazy promoter (Robert Wagner) offers them a last-minute undercard bout for Mike Tyson’s latest match. The catch is they have to be in Las Vegas in a few hours (neither has a car), and they have to fight each other. Like writer-director Ron Shelton’s other movies (White Men Can’t Jump, for one), Play It to the Bone has rich atmosphere, quirky characters (Vince is a recent Christian convert, and Lolita Davidovich plays a likable crackpot inventor who drives the boys to Vegas) and sharp dialogue. How many sports movies have protagonists who use words like “transcendent” correctly? Unfortunately, the final fight is anticlimactic and just plain dull. The film has some choice moments, such as the media coverage of the fight’s early minutes, but loses its punch as it proceeds. (R)

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