The perfect comeback vehicle for Mickey Rourke.

Rating: 10/10 (27 May 2009)

I wonder if this movie would've been as high profile if it weren't for its lead. Even its critically popular director, Darren Aronofsky, wouldn't have been able to draw as much attention to The Wrestler if it weren't for Mickey Rourke.
Hollywood loves its comeback stories, and The Wrestler is perhaps the best comeback vehicle that Rourke - a former championship boxer whose face has been rearranged many times - could've hoped for. It's about a wrestler who has only known professional wrestling all his life, but after a heart attack, has to come to terms with retirement. He subsequently - and unsuccessfully - tries to maintain a regular but demeaning job, woo a world-weary stripper, and reunite with his estranged daughter.
It's a huge role that requires a man to exude tremendous amounts of both masculinity and vulnerability and Rourke manages to, which justifies all the accolades he has garnered. Complementing him are the supporting actresses, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood as the stripper and his daughter respectively, though they are much overshadowed by Rourke and Tomei's bare boobs.
Though I probably wouldn't have watched such a movie if it weren't Oscar-nominated, it was worth watching for its performances, and also for its insight into pro-wrestling - how it's faked and how its fans are rabidly in denial about it. The ending was also particularly poignant and memorable, and I was surprised to realize how much I had come to sympathize with the wrestler, much to Rourke and Aronofsky's credit.