Movie Review: The Wrestler

Man, Mickey Rourke looks bad.  I mean really bad.  Like, taken out behind the woodshed, covered with a bag, and beaten with a shovel-bad.

Which makes him the perfect choice to play former wrestling superstar Randy “The Ram” Robinson in Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler.

This film is brutal.  Not in storyline nor in plot.  But the wrestling scenes (and one particular non-wrestling scene) will have you closing your eyes and squirming in your seats.  The things wrestlers do for the entertainment of their audiences borders on sickening.  And I’ve got a really strong stomach.

As indicated above, The Wrestler centers on “Ram” Robinson, 20-years after his prime.  He’s still competing on myriad regional wrestling circuits in New Jersey, trying to eke out a living and keep from being evicted.  Ram’s got an estranged daughter, a bad ticker, and a possible love interest in aging stripper Cassidey/Pam (Marisa Tomei).  Their interplay struck me as one of the movie’s truer pieces.  Both are older players in places where newer, younger, faster, flashier are the order of the day.  They’ve found a sort of sweet solace in each other, even if she doesn’t realize it until later in the film.

Like Doubt, the acting is the main reason to see this movie.  Rourke’s really is impressive as Ram.  If you think about it, he’s really just playing himself – a former star trying to retain his glory days.  And if its true that he did most of his own stunts – good grief, he deserves an Oscar for that alone.  You really believe Tomei as an exotic dancer trying to establish a life outside that world.  There’s also a touching scene between Ram and his daughter, played by Evan Rachel Wood (well, at least its touching for awhile).

Also like Doubt, there’s a lot of ambiguity at The Wrestler‘s end.  At least this time around, its pretty clear what’s going to happen…

Ram Robinson wins, of course.  May Mickey Rourke do likewise.