The Wrestler - Great acting in an OK movie
Written: Feb 24 '09 (Updated Feb 24 '09)
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Mickey Rourke is great, good wrestling scenes
Cons: The dramatic subplots didn't have room to grow
The Bottom Line: I was not that impressed with The Wrestler, but Mickey Rourke was great in it.
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| phungus's Full Review: The Wrestler |
The Wrestler is one of those movies where the actor's performance overshadows the rest of the film. Although Mickey Rourke is certainly great in it, this is not a great movie by any means. It's a lot of forced, heavy-handed drama that all amounts to an abrupt and unsatisfying ending. I'm not surprised it didn't bring home any Oscars.
This movie is about a professional wrestler at the end of his career who decides to do a little soul searching. If you really want to dig deep, you might say the character's journey through the story takes on a Christ-like metaphor. Although it is interesting and has several very memorable scenes, the whole package is kind of a letdown.
Mickey Rourke is great in this because the role was written for him. He plays a washed up, broken man with a Play-Doh face and more emotional baggage than your average soap opera character. He's a deadbeat dad to a ‘might be a lesbian' teenage daughter who hates him, a drunkard, and apparently can't find any job better than stockboy at a grocery store. What makes Rourke so good in this movie is that he plays the role with such humility that it is hard not to feel for the guy, and his portrayal is quite convincing because in many ways he is playing himself.
The wrestling scenes which bookend this film are very well done and show how even though all the moves and actions in the ring are scripted, the pain is still very real. There's also a very good and humiliating scene where Rourke is forced to work the grocery's deli counter, and director Darren Aronofsky shot it like he was walking into the ring for another fight. Rourke's character is a natural performer, and he works best when there is a crowd. His personal life is a total mess, though.
Want to know why Marisa Tomei got nominated for an Oscar for her role in this? It's because she's topless for half of her scenes. She even does some pole dancing for the camera. Kate Winslet also flashed a lot of skin for her role in The Reader, but she won the Oscar because she played a pedophile Nazi whereas Tomei just played a stripper mom with a heart of gold.
I think the main reason why I didn't care for The Wrestler is because of the ending. This is the kind of movie that deserves a better ending than what it provided. And I'm not really spoiling anything here by saying the ending was neither good nor bad - it wasn't anything. This movie doesn't really have an ending. It just stops. No Country for Old Men also stopped, but it did in some weird way conclude the story. This movie did not. You should have heard all the grumbles in the theater when the credits started to roll.
Recommended:
Yes
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