The Wrestler -- A Review

Rating: 9/10 (13 March 2010)

If you do not like watching wrestling, then you will still probably like "The Wrestler." Director Darren Aronofsky, whose cutting edge, raw style of filmmaking has attracted much controversy, has not only made a well-researched film about wrestling, but has more important animated it with compelling and quite touching human stories. None more touching and compelling was the story of Randy "the Ram." Mickey Rourke delivers a remarkable come-back performance as Randy "the Ram" who physically can no longer live up to the image of the legendary wrestler that he once was, but who in his heart of hearts cannot give up the wrestling profession. Why? Because the wrestling arena is the only place where Randy "the Ram" is not treated like a loser. In the arena, Randy finds camaraderie not only with his adoring fans, but with the other wrestlers. There are wonderful scenes where Randy and some other wrestler seem to beat each other up in the arena in some truly painful hardcore matches, but then become best friends after the fight is over. One of them asks Randy, "Are you doing OK?" Then they go out for beers. How cool is that?
But the best scenes in Randy's life are those that exist outside of the ring. There we watch Randy struggle with burden of being a loser in the world that exists outside of the ring. He does not seem to be going anywhere in life and he makes some bad choices almost with a naive innocence. Not surprisingly, his only daughter Stephane (Evan Rachel Wood) hates him; Randy has long ago given up trying to speak with Stephane's mother (she is not even in the film) and a possible emotional and intimate connection with a stripper named Cassidy (Marisa Tomei) is tenuous even at the best of times. And yet Aronofsky and writers Robert Siegel and Mickey Rourke (Rourke disliked the script at first and helped Siegel make substantial changes to it. Arguably those changes made "The Wrestler" a great film and earned Rourke a much deserved Academy Award nomination) help the audience understand Randy "the Ram" so well that it is just heart wrenching watching that man fall apart psychologically and physically over the course of the film.