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There's a scene in David Michôd's "Christy," where young Christy Martin (played by Sydney Sweeney) is practicing basketball in a school gymnasium. She tussles with another player, calls her a few names, and ultimately tackles her to the ground. In this moment, the movie goes to great lengths to signify that a fighter is born and she is trapped in the wrong sport.

"Christy," which had its debut at this year's Toronto international Film Festival, is a sports movie like many seen on screen previously. The first half of the 135-minute movie doesn't do much to subvert the well-worn genre, making sure to hit the familiar beats of Christy Martin's rise as the most successful female boxer of the 90s. We meet her before her fame, see the challenges she faces in a conservative family (her parents are played by Ethan Embry and Merritt Wever) and learn of her struggle to live freely as a gay woman with a spotlight on her. It's all terrain that has been explored time and time again.

So often, sports biopics feel like a filmed checklist on the way to the eventual big event that ends the movie. Michôd's movie employs many sports biopic clichés, but it tries to differentiate itself by not making the sport the central focus; instead, Christy is his focus. The latter part of the movie puts the boxing on the back burner to show how abusive her relationship and marriage with her trainer-turned-husband Jim Martin (Ben Foster) became.

What is surprising about "Christy" is the strong and committed performance by Sweeney in the lead role. Sweeney rose to fame with HBO's "Euphoria" and had break out moments in the first season of "The White Lotus" (both HBO titles garnered her Emmy nominations in the same year) but became a dominant force on the movie scene when the 2023 romantic comedy "Anyone But You" surprised the world with a large box office haul. It shot Sweeney to a level of stardom that comes with a great deal of scrutiny.

"Anyone But You," while an important turning point in Sweeney's career, wasn't a very good movie, and she didn't have the comedic timing to elevate such predictable fluff. She's been written off for her looks and public relations - imbroglios, let's say - which makes her performance in "Christy" even more powerful. She delivers her performance like she has something to prove, and she does just that.

Any other sports biopic would be sold on the physicality of the performance, but "Christy" is not a movie interested in turning its lead actor into some kind of replica of the real-life person being portrayed. This is a movie about the internal struggles Christy faced when it came to her identity and place in a sport that had largely been male dominated. Sweeney's performance captures the longing of Christy and the hurt she feels when she's not taken seriously.

"Christy" may just be another movie that is written off as an Oscar play for the lead star; but whether she receives a nomination is irrelevant and, based on the performance given, not the intention of this movie. For Sweeney, this movie plays like a calling card for her abilities and how they extend beyond public perceptions.