"The Wrestler" comes up short

Rating: 7/10 (11 February 2009)

About half of "The Wrestler" works well. The film features a fascinating performance by Mickey Rourke who owns the role of a once notable entertainer cashing in on his former fame with diminishing returns. The only place Randy "The Ram" Robinson feels comfortable, the only arena in which he consistently succeeds, is the wrestling ring. Even though he is aging and his body is starting to turn on him, The Ram keeps heading back into the ring. It is the only place where he can be whole and fully realized.
And then there's his estranged daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) and stripper friend Cassidy (Marisa Tomei), the Mary Magadalene to his suffering servant. Assigned to Randy by Syd Field, they keep getting in the way of the authenticity that Rourke and Aronofsky establish in other scenes. For every seemingly unrehearsed scene focused on the backstage bonhomie of the Ram and the other wrestlers, there's a screenplay required confrontation between Randy and his daughter or Randy and Cassidy. These might not stand out as glaringly in a movie that employed less of a stripped down aesthetic. The film uses the over the shoulder, day in the life technique of the Dardennes, a grainy washed out presentation, and a raw performance by Rourke and the other wrestlers. These faux-verite elements clash with the pedestrian drama provided by the women in The Ram's life. But don't blame actresses Wood and Tomei. They're hindered by a predictable script.
Well worth seeing for Rourke's tremendous performance, but the movie as a whole comes up short.