An actor's movie if there ever was one

Rating: 7/10 (15 February 2009)

The script is ambitious. What does the body mean? It means a lot to a wrestler and a stripper, but when the body gets older, is there any life left? Or is death to be preferred? Immediately or later on? Perhaps that's a question everyone has to put to them themselves.
So these questions are put also here, but anyway it's very simplified. If it wasn't for the tremendous acting, the movie wouldn't mean much.
Mickey Rourke deserves all the applause he has got, but Marisa Tomei is his equal, making a very distinguished portrait and catalyst out of her stripper part. But perhaps the best actor of them all is Evan Rachel Wood as the wrestler's daughter. There is a final scene between them with very profound emotions. It's the strongest part of the movie.