A slow, but good, movie.

Rating: 5/10 (10 December 2009)

This movie is about Randy the Ram, a washed-up, big-name wrestler trying to draw together his tattered life outside the ring before he must retire to it. It is the kind of movie people love to give awards to, but that probably says more about what they think movies should be rather than what movies they really enjoy. This is the kind of movie that is given plenty of awards but that few people remember after five years.
That might sound all unfair, especially when in most ways, this movie is excellent. The acting, cinematography, and dialog are all excellent. So what's wrong? Only that it's a simple story told slowly, and to make that worse, it uses a shaky camera, imitating a documentary for whatever artistic reason. I have loved other movies by this director, Darren Aronofsky, because anybody who could make a subject like mathematics into a cinematic horror story is always capable of walking on water. Nonetheless, I watched "The Wrestler" on DVD, and there's no way I would have survived seeing it at a theater. I had to take ten minute intermissions three times. That's not true of Aronofsky's other movies.
Nevertheless, when it was over, I must admit I liked the story. And Mickey Rourke as Randy is as excellent as they say. Marisa Tomei as Cassidy, an aging stripper, is also excellent, and I was impressed at how fair this movie was toward that character. Evan Rachel Wood plays Stephanie, Randy's alienated daughter, and she gives a performance on par with Rourke's and Tomei's. This was another part that, if not skillfully written and acted, could have easily become trite.
Plus, between the slowness, there are very beautiful scenes. So, I could say that even with the drawbacks, "The Wrestler" is worth it, depending on your attention reserves.