PLAY IT TO THE BONE. Written and directed by Ron Shelton. Running time: 125 minutes. Rated R.

Ron Shelton’s new boxing movie, “Play It to the Bone,” should have thrown in the towel long before it ever went into production.

The film isn’t sure what it wants to be — a road movie, a buddy movie or a film about boxing between Cesar Dominguez (Antonio Banderas) and Vince Boudreau (Woody Harrelson), two macho middleweight has-beens who are given another shot at glory after failures that put their professional careers on ice.

Unfortunately, the film isn’t smart enough to pull its three story elements together, which is surprising since Shelton is a pro at writing and directing successful sports movies, including “Bull Durham,” “White Men Can’t Jump” and “Tin Cup.”

He’s lost the match here. “Play It to the Bone” proves every bit as lame as its ultra-lame title. Instead of giving audiences an insider’s view of boxing, something Shelton did for baseball and golf, the director gives them a handful of cliches plucked straight out of the “Rocky” movies. (Guess what, folks? Boxing is corrupt!)

As likable as its cast is, its likability is also part of the film’s problem. By the time these two men finally get into the ring and start pummeling each other (the ending is far too bloody and violent for what’s supposed to be a comedy), we like each of them so equally that there’s no one to root for. The blood flows, the crowd cheers, their ex-girlfriend, Grace (Lolita Davidovich), makes wisecracks at ringside, but the audience is left in limbo.

And that’s a mistake that just KOs this film.

Grade: D+

AMERICAN MOVIE. Directed by Chris Smith. Running time: 104 minutes. Rated R. Nightly, Jan. 24-27, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville.

Chris Smith’s excellent, often hilarious documentary, “American Movie,” is as much about maverick, independent filmmaking as it is about the elusive American Dream.

Winner of the grand jury prize at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, the film follows Mark Borchardt, a boozy, gangly 30-something high school dropout who lives at home with his parents, has three children from a failed marriage, delivers the Wall Street Journal, vacuums mausoleums for a living, and has a deep love for film.

Although Borchardt comes off as a caricature throughout Smith’s film — he and his burned-out friend Mark Schank are “Wayne’s World” brought to life — he’s the real thing. So are the peculiar group of people of Menominee Falls, Wis., who gather to help him realize his dream of making horror movies influenced by George Romero.

Part of this film’s huge charm inheres in the rallying of everyday people to help one of their own. No one here really believes Borchardt has any talent — his brother thinks he’d be better suited for a factory job, his actors tolerate him, and his own mother says on camera that she doesn’t think he’ll ever make it in the business — but none of that matters.

These working-class people understand what it is to dream and to hope for something better than their current situation. When Mark asks for help with his slasher movie “Coven,” which he pronounces “COVE-en” because he doesn’t want it to rhyme with oven, they help.

Probably no one helps more than Mark’s elderly Uncle Bill, who reluctantly gives Mark $3,000 to realize his vision and, we sense, to keep him off the streets. But when Mark asks Bill to appear in “Coven,” to say just one line and to say it like he believes it, Bill just shakes his head and answers for nearly everyone in Mark’s life: “I don’t believe it.”

But Mark does — and that’s part of this must-see film’s magic.

Grade: A

Christopher Smith’s reviews appear each Monday and Thursday in the NEWS, each Tuesday and Thursday on WLBZ’s “NEWS CENTER 5:30 Today” and “NEWS CENTER Tonight,” and each Saturday and Sunday on NEWS CENTER’s statewide “Morning Report.”