Not for everyone

Rating: 5/10 (17 February 2009)

I came away from this film thinking "OK movie, but why all the critical acclaim?" Nicely filmed, acted and directed, but I still couldn't connect with it. The story is remarkably slow, especially getting started. There are also a few reaches you need to accept.
For a movie that is dead-on realistic in so many ways, why embellish on professional wrestling? Has pro wrestling changed? Are there now props set up inside the ring and plenty of bleeding? I guess I haven't watched it in a while. If that's now typical then I stand corrected. If not, then Hollywood once again is portraying unrealistically for the unknowing public, assuming they'll just accept it. It's frustrating to me that a director can think "No one will notice that" or "People won't care." This happens, for example, in a lot of medical scenes, although in this film the medical scenes are all done very realistically.
The relationship between Ram and Cassidy was believable until she fell for him and traveled to see him fight. The way it felt to me was that Ram just couldn't get it through his head that she wasn't into him. I never felt any chemistry between them - it was unidirectional, he was attracted to her, including during their "just one beer" scene. The story she told was that she was trying to improve her life and he didn't offer much toward that end.
Rourke's portrayal couldn't have been done better, but the weaknesses of the plot kept the movie itself from being excellent. A "come back" for Rourke? Maybe, but just a few changes in the story would have made a much stronger statement about how life for many is hugely successful, then over time it all dwindles, leaving lots of memories, but not much reason to be alive.