Mark Wahlberg comes up a winner with "The Fighter" (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – After more than four years of working tirelessly to make his movie, "The Fighter," and more than four years of training in a boxing ring to fit the lead role, Mark Wahlberg has changed routines in life.

"My new regimen consists of a bottle of red wine and a lot of food," the actor jokes, "and I'm enjoying myself, but my wife is, like, 'you're starting to look really bad.'"

It has been a rare event when, as an adult, Mark Wahlberg has looked bad. And as "The Fighter" debuts on Friday in major U.S. cities, it is looking very good with Oscar buzz and solid reviews working in its corner.

A troubled teenager who landed in jail, Wahlberg turned around his life as an entertainer, first as a rapper with Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, then as a Calvin Klein model when his rock-hard abdomen became the envy of both men and women.

He broke through the ranks of Hollywood actors in the 1990s in films like "Boogie Nights," became a box office sensation in "The Perfect Storm" and moved on to producing hits like HBO's "Entourage," which mirrors his own early years in Hollywood.

Yet "The Fighter," which will expand around the United States in weeks to come, marks something new for the 39-year-old. It is a labor of love that he struggled to get made because, as much as anything, it was about a man -- boxer "Irish" Micky Ward -- with whom Wahlberg had much in common.

"I can't find a reason why I wouldn't be passionate about (the movie)," Wahlberg told Reuters. "And there are so many similarities between Micky's life and his journey and mine."

The two grew up in the Boston area in families with nine children. Both were tough kids, and Wahlberg followed the career of Ward, who is about six years older than the actor.

OUTSIDE THE RING

"The Fighter" charts the ups-and-downs of Ward's boxing. He eventually became a welterweight champion and his three fights with Arturo Gatti are considered legendary.

But what has movie audiences raving are less the fights and more the tale of two brothers, Ward and older sibling Dickie Eklund, who was a strong fighter in his own heyday and the family's favorite son before turning to crack cocaine.

Micky Ward (Wahlberg) must overcome not just obstacles in the ring, but the overshadowing presence of Dickie (Christian Bale) and the overbearing management of his mother (Melissa Leo). He is confused by his family's eagerness to overlook Dickie's drug abuse, and his desire not to disappoint his mom by losing bouts eventually drives Micky from the ring.

But Micky never gives up. He builds his self-confidence through the love of girlfriend Charlene (Amy Adams) and is finally able to stand up for himself -- outside the ring.

When that happens, his career turns around.

"The Fighter" has scored an 84 percent positive rating at review website Rottentomatoes.com, and movie fans on companion website Flixster give it a 79 percent positive rating.

In Friday's Los Angeles Times, critic Kenneth Turan writes that "the rousing 'The Fighter' tries a number of risky maneuvers and manages to make them pay off in the end."

Oscar watchers in Hollywood put Bale as a strong contender for a supporting actor Academy Award. Wahlberg, Leo, Adams and the movie itself, all figure prominently in this year's race for Hollywood film honors.

By now, after appearing on TV news magazine "60 Minutes" and numerous stories about him, Wahlberg's journey to get "The Fighter" made is well known.

Financing proved difficult for a movie that touched on a dark theme of drug abuse, yet Wahlberg continued to train in a boxing gym he had built at his home. He hired full-time coaches who, when Wahlberg traveled for other movies, went with him. Like Micky Ward, he never threw in the towel.

"I figured if I stopped, I would be giving up on the movie, and I never wanted to do that," he said.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant)

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