Different, yet generic

Rating: 5/10 (9 July 2011)

My reviewing gears are a bit rusty so I apologize in advance if this review comes off as unfocused.
Darren Aronofsky, a director who is known for his somewhat unconventional films, has recently garnered a lot of critical acclaim due to the famous Black Swan. But then again, pretty much every full length film he has directed has garnered a positive reaction and this one is no different. Critics praised it, average movie goers praised it, everyone seems to love it, so it must be as great film right? Quoting a rather popular one liner from Arnold Schwarzenegger's famous Commando will make my answer to the previous question quite clear. 'WRONG!!! *Gunshot*' Well, you can exclude the gunshot but my point remains, there is nothing great about this film at all. Where is all this praise coming from? I'm not sure at all.
The story is pretty straightforward. A wrestler who is way past his prime is struggling with his professional and personal lives. He's tries to balance them and faces hurdles in trying to accomplish this feat. He tries to find out what's best for him and whether he should continue his wrestling career.
There are some things that are definitely different about this film. For example, the presentation itself is quite interesting. The film is shot in a rather uncomfortable way which is little hard to describe. I guess this is an attempt to make the film more realistic, but this does not make the film enjoyable to watch at times. The movie has kind of a dark atmosphere, which is commendable, though not entirely consistent. There isn't much of the glamour you might see in quite a few Hollywood films about celebrities. Definitely a different take on such a subject.
However, there are a lot of problems that plague this film. Firstly, the story doesn't have anything special or original about it. 'Randy', our protagonist, is infected with typical Hollywood clichés. He's a negligent father (surprise, surprise), he's in love with a woman who has many problems herself and most importantly, he is portrayed as very selfish. Other problems include rather awkward moments which completely ruin the feel of the film. For example, there's a scene where he tries to bond with his daughter. They both go into an abandoned building and, get ready for this, start randomly dancing with each other. That's just.... silly. Another scene has Randy and the stripper talking about how 80s music is great and how 90s music is the devil. The conversation goes something like 'I love 80s music!' 'Me too!' 'I hate 90s music!' 'Me too!' 'Let's make out now' 'Alright!' Uhh... yeah... not a very well thought out scene at all.
Really, I just scratched the surface of what I don't like about this film. These are not the only deficiencies this film suffers from. Randy's 'depressing' life is sometimes just not depressing. And I'm not talking about the purposefully happy parts either. The excess use of nudity and blood seems kind of unnecessary. But the biggest, most glaring flaw of this film is that it is just not really enjoyable to watch. Sure, some parts are definitely intriguing, some scenes are shot very well, and some of the ideas aren't too bad, but overall there was nothing that captured me, made me want to like the characters, or just enjoy myself while watching the film. It was uncomfortable to watch at times (which I'm not sure if I should consider it a good trait), it was interesting and I can't say I was particularly bored at any point but there was nothing in the movie that made it seem 'good'. I don't think I'll ever understand the hype around Darren Aronofsky's films.