An emotional body slam

Rating: 8/10 (9 January 2009)

The gorgeous Marisa Tomei gets her gear off yet again in "The Wrestler", an emotional body slam that amply displays both her acting and sexual charms. Her breasts, by crikey, are a monument to the gods. Even though she was hotter in "Before The Devil Knows You're Dead", she's still on the boil in this beauty, Mickey Rourke's very impressive comeback film. He was in "Sin City", of course, but he wasn't the lead in that one (not for the length of a feature, anyway). Here, he leads and we follow. The film could be about anything. It's mostly about a guy who's looking for self-redemption. He'd like to do a little emotional surgery on the frayed relationship with his estranged daughter, too, but that proves a very tricky grind. As does making things work with Tomei's wounded, heart-battered stripper. Rourke physically expresses his character with a body that resembles a torpedoed battle ship. His history oozes from his pores. Wrestling is painted as excruciatingly painful theater. Still a sport. But a sport mixed with bloody theatrics that can kill a man. The film's predictability is a minus, but the central performance is a massive, swaggering plus. Tomei is, as usual, a force of nature.