A couple of great performances lift “The Fire Inside,” a generally conventional “fight picture” about a boxer long odds in pursuit of Olympic glory.

The novelty to this compact genre drama from cinematographer turned director Rachel Morrison and Oscar winning screenwriter Barry Jenkins, of “Moonlight” and “If Beale Street Could Talk,” is that the fighter’s a woman, and in the film’s depiction of the fleeing glory of Olympic fame, which doesn’t necessarily translate into dollars for our real life heroine.

The fact that our real life boxer, Claressa Shields, is Black, poor and from Flint, Michigan makes her inability to cash in on her fame something of a metaphor for Flint itself, a city where poverty and race contribute to official neglect and disregard that led to an international scandal. That’s left unspoken and underdeveloped in a movie far too content to stop at each way station on the generic heroine’s journey in a movie that lacks suspense and a proper third act payoff.

“Girlfight,” which launched Michelle Rodriguez, was a lot grittier. “Million Dollar Baby” was more moving.

The little girl who shows up at Flint’s Berston Field House, a makeshift gym with a hand-lettered sign identifying it as such, is treated as peculiar and already unpopular. But she must be tough, as much taunting as she’s willing to silently endure from the boys already being tutored by part-time coach-and-manager Jason Crutchfield. But Crutchfield, given his trademark immersvive three-dimenionality by Brian Tyree Henry, indulges the eleven year-old (Jazmin Headley).

The boy boxer doing the most razzing is put in the ring with her, and it’s an insant mismatch. But the trainer gives Claressa tips between punches.

“Keep your front foot planted. This ain’t no ballet.”

Unlike the boys at that age, Claressa listens and follows instruction. She’s got grit. Her arms are short, and when she gets worked-up, they deliver a pummeling in short, swift strokes. “T-Rex” they nickname her.

Five years later she’s a contender. Claressa (now played by Ryan Destiny) is only 16 turning 17, battling much older boxers for a spot in the 2012 Olympics. But there are all these obstacles in her way. Her dad’s (Adam Clark) in prison, and isn’t exactly a help when he gets out. Her mom (Olunike Adeliyi) is just broke, self-absorbed and careless enough about “boyfriends” to make Claressa and her two siblings’ home life hell.

And that lifelong sparring partner (Idrissa Sanogo)? He’s grown up with Claressa, and their sparring can turn into wrestling and love taps these days. Uh oh.

Oscar-nominee Henry (“Causeway”) makes Jason instantly credible as a guy who knows a bit about boxing and a lot about kids. We can believe this cable TV repairman and married father of two is someone who’d welcome his prize prospect into his paycheck-to paycheck family, if that’s what it takes to give her a shot. We don’t worry about ulterior motives because there aren’t any.

But as Claressa punches her way towards an Olympic podium moment, we start to wonder what form her success will take, and how it will impact all their lives. Not in ways we’d expect.

TV star (“Grown-ish,” “Star”) transformed herself physically for the role. Her technique in the ring mimics the real Claressa, and her bravado — sulking, trash talking — is treated as attributed to her youth, and something that gets the fighter lectured by the Olympic powers that be about how to behave if she wants to make it onto that Wheaties box.

The struggle between her rough-hewn “true self” and the sort of young woman who attracts an agent and big endorsements isn’t particularly novel, or suspenseful. But it’s interesting to ponder this in the cold hearted calculus of “popularity,” female athletes’ “sex appeal,” race and the underclass.

“The Fire Inside” is a feel-good picture that feeds off our disappointment that not everybody who succeeds against the odds wholly “succeeds” against those odds, and makes us wonder if this will ever change.

Because “The Fire Inside” and pursuit of excellence for the sake of excelling isn’t enough, and for any athlete not born rich but dedicated to be the very best, it shouldn’t be.

Rating: PG-13, boxing violence, profanity, sexual situation

Cast: Ryan Destiny and Brian Tyree Henry

Credits: Directed by Rachel Morrison, scripted by Barry Jenkins. An MGM/Amazon Studios release.

Running time: 1:49