Talk about fantasy. At a time when newspapers seem to be fighting for their lives, Denver has not only the Rocky and the Post but a third daily.

That's Denver's journalistic world according to Resurrecting the Champ, a drama about Erik Kernan, a reporter from The Denver Times who believes he's stumbled onto the biggest story of his life.

The Denver Times, of course, is the fictional paper that plays home to part of a drama loosely based on a story reported by J.R. Moehringer, who once worked at the Rocky. He went on to ply his trade at The Los Angeles Times, where he wrote the story that inspired this movie. (And where, a few years later, he won a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing.)

Now, If I were Moehringer, at least two things would be true: I'd have a Pulitzer and I'd have mixed feelings about Josh Hartnett playing Kernan, a character people might (but shouldn't) confuse with me. Handsome and affable, Hartnett doesn't seem to have the kind of eat-'em-alive fire his character needs, although, like the movie, he's never distractingly bad.

Fortunately for Resurrecting the Champ - which proves an entertaining enough August entry to merit a look - Samuel L. Jackson plays the boxer in the story. Jackson's character says he's "Battling" Bob Satterfield, a once-promising middleweight whose life has spiraled so far downhill that he's living on the streets of Denver.

"The Champ," as everyone calls Jackson's character, shuffles from one moment to the next, warding off toughs who try to beat the daylights out of him. Raising the pitch of his voice by what sounds like half an octave, Jackson does fine work as a character who has learned to bob and weave through a back-alley existence. He may be homeless, but he insists he's no bum.

The movie would have done well to stick with the relationship between Erik and The Champ, but director Rod Lurie (The Contender) goes for more, gearing the proceedings toward an exploration of journalistic ethics and heart-tugging sentiment.

Feeling neglected by his paper's sports editor (a credibly cynical Alan Alda), Erik wants to wheedle his way into writing for the paper's Sunday magazine. Grasping at straws over lunch with the magazine's editor (David Paymer), he realizes that the fallen boxer might be his ticket out of sports obscurity.

It's not often that a movie goes wrong by adding layers to its narrative, but that's more or less what happens here, maybe because each new element expands the story without necessarily deepening it.

Not only does Erik's career need a boost, but he's in the midst of difficulties with his wife (Kathryn Morris), who happens to be the paper's star investigative reporter. On top of that, Erik embellishes the truth for his 6-year-old son, Teddy (Dakota Goyo), claiming to be friends with lots of hotshot Denver athletes. (Look for a cameo from John Elway at his Cherry Creek restaurant.)

Although the movie lands some good punches, it ultimately turns sappy, tugging at the heartstrings in the late rounds and shifting its focus to father-son issues that come across as heartfelt, in a movie sort of way. Erik's recently deceased dad was a legendary boxing broadcaster; Erik has spent most of his adult life trying to escape his father's shadow.

Denverites will recognize some of the movie's exteriors, but the fact that the story takes place in the Mile High City isn't the biggest draw. Jackson's performance helps Resurrecting the Champ make its weight, if only by a couple of pounds.

Not bad enough to require that a towel be tossed into the ring and not good enough to win by a knockout, the movie spends too much time on Erik's problems and not enough on Jackson's cagey character.

Every now and again, Jackson drops the addled-derelict act that hides his fire, scoring with a witty jab to Hartnett's chin. Those moments make you wonder whether his character isn't the most interesting guy in the movie and, if so, why he isn't always at its center.

Read more from Robert Denerstein at denersteinunleashed.com.