There’s a beautiful scene right in the middle of “The Smashing Machine,” and it has nothing to do with mixed martial arts.

Mark Kerr (Dwayne Johnson) and his on-again, off-again girlfriend Dawn (Emily Blunt) are having a happy night out at a local carnival. She wants to ride the Gravitron; he’s got a sensitive stomach and worries he’ll get sick. After futile debate with the ride operator, she rides it alone. She enjoys it, but is visibly sad that he wouldn’t take the risk; he’s frustrated, but understands that his life shouldn’t prevent her from having fun.

It’s the sort of illuminating, illustrative scene that stands out in a curious character study — because “The Smashing Machine” is a curious character study. It is not particularly interested in investigating the world that, in Kerr’s

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