MOVIE REVIEW: THE WRESTLER
Monday, December 22, 2008
So here I am sitting at my desk after baring witness to an indie movie which as of last week, I had never heard of. Tonight I battled the balmy cold weather to make my way to a small theater in the Lower East Side of Manhattan to see The Wrestler. The Landmark Sunshine Theater. For years I have always walked right past this place and never even thought about stepping foot in there. Usually its lined with the trendy, indie, overly liberal rot that infests my city like the bubonic plague. Only instead of puss filled blisters they bring really stupid furry hats and way too tight shirts, and of course their piss poor attitude. So when I saw the latest movie starring Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei was showing there, I gasped a little. I hope it's worth dealing with fake city dwellers and freezing tempertures.

I've been on a bit of a Mickey Rourke kick lately for some reason. The other night a friend brought over a movie called Barfly and ever since I have been looking up any flick with the walking, plastic surgery disaster known as Mickey Rourke in it. The ugly fucker has been in some show stopping movies and in my opinion, has always given his characters that "badass" appeal. Barfly was an awesome movie and I'm glad it took so long for me to see it. Had I seen it when I was younger I totally wouldn't have appreciated it fully. (So yes, Janine, thank you!).

The Wrestler is a movie about a wrestler's fall from the spotlight and how he copes with normal everyday life. For me, it reminded me of the old school WWF and brought back some great childhood memories I had. I remember watching wrestling with my brother all morning long on Sundays, trying to recreate the moves we saw I heroes pull off. I remember how frustrated my brother would get when he could not, for the life of him, figure out how to get me in a "figure four leg lock", even when I would let him position me. It was damn confusing for us! "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorf, Ivan "The Polish Power" Putsky, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, Ric Flair, Classy Freddie Blassy. The list goes on and on. We'd watch for hours and beat the crap out of each other during the commercial breaks. Back then wrestling was still trying to pull off being a legitimate sport and anyone who called it a "stage act" got a beatdown right there on television! I remember watching Regis Philbin getting supplexed after calling wrestling fake for cryin out loud! It was a soap opera for kids then, and nowadays its the same. It just targets grownups and it dropped the "this is real stuff" act.


As staged as it is the blaring fact is that wrestlers have not lead such poignant lives equal to their superstar or celebrity status. For a while it seemed that the pro wrestlers of yore were dropping like flies everyday. It was a sad reality that these once harrowed superhumans were passing well before their time. But why? These guys had millions chanting their name. They had everything. Fame, glory, fortune...right? This is where Rourke's character, Randy "The Ram" Robinson takes center stage. The movie centers on Rourke's differentiation between life in the ring and reality. Through a series of twists and turns The Ram is forced to choose between the glory or the reality, leaving for a great ending in my opinion. One you'll have to see the movie yourself to see.

Pluses for the movie:
  1. Mickey Rourke kills it on screen once again. His fucked up face perfectly casts him as a beat up wrestler. If he wanted to go into the biz he really could. I'm willing to bet he spent a lot of time with the small time wrestling circuits to really grasp the lifestyle.
  2. Marisa Tomei is a stripper. Which means we finally get to see her do some nudity. And much like Rourke, she did her homework in some stripclubs to learn the ropes. And we ain't talking the high class kind, we're talking truck stop titty bars. Sign me up! Always had a thing for you Marisa. Right up there with Alyssa Milano.
  3. Acting, screenplay and camera angles were all fucking top notch. If this doesn't win some Oscars I am never paying to see another movie again.
  4. THE FUCKING SOUNDTRACK KILLED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Quiet Riot was the first metal record (yes, I said RECORD) I ever owned!!!!
Things that sucked about the movie:
  1. I'm sure some will bitch about the ending. Without giving it away it sort of pulled a Sopranos on you. I liked it though.
  2. Nothing really sucked except the asshole who kept yanking my seat back every time he had to get up during the movie, the two fucktards who yapped as they were 10 minutes late and tried finding a seat in a packed house, and the other two jerkoffs who camped out on the floor next to me as if it were Central Park and we were having a god damned picnic.

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