A very good movie

Rating: 9/10 (27 January 2009)

This is easily one of the top movies of 2008. In a comeback role, Mickey Rourke gives an award-worthy performance as a fading wrestler, Randy "The Ram" Robinson who has a very shaky relationship with his daughter Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood) and a tenuous relationship with a stripper, "Cassidy", played by a very good Marisa Tomei. Randy has health problems, he suffers a heart attack after one performance and wants to get out of the wrestling game altogether. But it is from his loyal fans that Randy gets his only committed emotional support.
This movie was named by At the Movies Ben Manckiewicz as the best film of 2008 and while that may be a bit much this film is one of the year's finest. It tells the story of a man unable due to circumstances to move beyond his 1980s glory and as he is no longer young he can no longer perform as he once did. He wants a relationship with both his daughter Stephanie and "Cassidy" (Tomei's stripper name) but neither woman can commit to him how he would like. So, Randy continues to do the one thing he knows and loves, wrestling, even so doing so puts his health at great risk. This is an excellent film so it gets a grade of A- and a very strong recommendation.