Thanks for checking out our The Wrestler review
Sin City gave notice to the film world that Mickey Rourke was back when he gave his great (and in my opinion best in the whole movie) performance as Marv. But let’s face it, not a lot of people are going to give tons of acting credit for anything you do in a film like Sin City. Fair enough. But a while ago word came out the his performance in this new movie “The Wrestler” was going to shock a lot of people and perhaps even garner some awards consideration.
Add on top of all that the fact that I grew up watching wrestling like a religion when I was a kid and I was hooked and dying to see this flick. Not to mention the fact that it wasn’t just Rourke getting awards buzz… lots of festivals and movie websites have been buzzing about this film in general. So is it as good as everyone says it is? I’m going to get tarred and feathered for saying this… but… no. It’s not.
THE GENERAL IDEA
The synopsis for The Wrestler looks something like this: “An all-but-unrecognizable Mickey Rourke stars as an aging Hulk Hogan-inspired professional wrestler, desperately trying to hold onto his larger-then-life glory days of the 80s. In a parallel plotline, Marisa Tomei costars as an aging stripper, also holding onto her youth as long as she can. Shot with ample use of hand-held, documentary-style cameras, Rourke and Tomei give outstanding performances in challenging roles (Rourke reportedly bulked up 35 pounds for the part), while director Darren Aronofsky succeeds in showing the grittier, human sides of both professional wrestling and the stripping life without resorting to trickery or pandering to emotion. The Wrestler has an honest, kick-in-the-gut feel, much like life itself. While often violent and not for the faint at heart, the flick is also realistic and pulls off the nearly impossible: making an exceedingly watchable, interesting, and entertaining movie about the drama that is professional wrestling.”
THE GOOD
As mentioned in the introductory paragraph, Mickey Rourke really is everything that everyone says he is in this movie. Dear heavens… I don’t think any actor has been able to make me FEEL for his character this year like Mickey Rourke did in The Wrestler. You like him, root for him, your heart aches for him… you just get totally attached to this character and as a result get emotionally attached to the film as a whole. I don’t know that he should WIN the Oscar this year (this is turning out to be a damn good year for the lead actor category), but there is something certainly wrong if he doesn’t at least get nominated. Yeah… he was that damn good in it.
Marisa Tomei will also get an Oscar nomination this year (supporting actress). She plays probably the most realistic stripper (who is also the quasi-love interest for Rourke) I’ve ever seen on screen. And yes I know what I’m about to say is incredibly sexist… but holy hell she’s naked for half of it and I swear this woman just keeps getting hotter and hotter with age. DAMN!
THE BAD
I don’t want to nitpick too much here so I’ll just be general. Despite the amazing performances of both Rourke and Tomei, I was bored to tears through this flick and found nothing entertaining about it. It felt like they did everything right to lay the foundation for a great flick… but then did nothing but continue to lay foundation without ever actually getting around to the movie itself. It felt like a movie of subplots with nothing left to drive it overall. There was nothing wrong with the dialog, there was nothing wrong with the acting… but there was flat out no story. Just premise. I kept waiting for the movie to start, but it never did. Not to mention the film is filled with so many cliches we’ve seen far too many times “But this is all I know how to do” yadda yadda yadda. And holy crap it has a stupider ending that the Sopranos.
OVERALL
I am in the VAST minority… I did not like The Wrestler at all. The individual performances were breathtaking, but that doesn’t save the movie in the least for me. Truly disappointing. Overall I give The Wrestler a 4 our of 10. But seriously folks… keep in mind I’m the only guy I know who didn’t like this film, so you may want to check it out anyway.
