You Will Cheer For The Wrestler

Rating: 8/10 (25 January 2009)

An aging and broken down wrestler tries to live a normal life outside the ring, but when things get even worse in his life, he turns to the one thing that kept him going and made him feel loved, wrestling.
Mickey Rourke's performance as Randy "The Ram" Robinson is honest, heart-breaking and real. Probably the most real performances I've seen this year and one of my personal favourites. True, the story of this character mirrors the life of the actor himself and it's obvious that he brought that with him, but it's hard to watch this film and not cheer for him, feel sorry for him and want everything to work out in the end for him.
This is the 4th film from Darren Aronofsky and it goes back to his more independent roots, like his first feature Pi. Not saying his other two features who big Hollywood productions, but anyway. The Wrestler is shot in a gritty, low budget documentary style that suits the film to a tee. This isn't high production value WWE wrestler. This is the independent, small ring, small crowds, real pain wrestling and the way they shot it reflects just that. This character study wouldn't have had the same impact if it looked clean and pristine. It would have felt fake.
The two, often misjudged, professions in this film are wrestling and stripping. People often throw wrestling aside claiming it to be fake. The film makes to effort to take one side or the other, it just tells it like it is. Yes, these guys know how it is going to go down and who is going to win, they have the moves mapped out before the match begins, but it's really their bodies being thrown to the floor, it's really their heads being smashed with a chair. As we see in the movie, the blood is sometimes self-inflicted, for the show and entertainment. Yet, it is still their blood that is being drawn.
The second is stripping, which is where Marisa Tomei enters the film. The one character who Randy is able to have a relationship with, even if it is a short lived lap dance and he has to pay for it. Here is a guy that can't pay to keep his trailer open for him, but is willing to spend 60 bucks on a lap dance. Is it because he is horny, or he is in need for some kind of human contact, somebody to talk to. Well, it turns out he actually likes the broad, but guess what, she doesn't date customers. Ouch, another hit in the face for Randy in the real world.
After Randy has a heart attack he is told he can't wrestle and Cassidy/Pam (stage name and real name) tells him to go see his daughter. The only problem is they haven't spoken in years. He hasn't been a father to her, he doesn't know what music she likes, what type of person she is, or even her birth date. He tries his best to re-connect with her and pours his heart out. I wanted this relationship to work more then the one with the stripper, this one felt more real. I can't say too much about Evan Rachel Wood, she plays the clichéd teen angst daughter. We've seen her do this before with the film Thirteen.
As good as Rourke is in the film, there was not one scene that particularly jumped out at me as amazing. I was waiting for a scene in which he would knock me out of my seat, yet that never happened. It could be because he's really good throughout the entire thing and that the entire film is his one scene that will knock you out. The film is not to be outdone by Rourke's performance either. I was never bored, and always connected.
The soundtrack ain't to shabby either.