THE WRESTLER
Starring: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, Todd Barry, Mark Margolis, and Ernest Miller
Written by: Robert D. Siegel
Directed by: Darren Aronofsky
Release Date: December 17, 2008
I'll admit it: I was a wrestling fan. Yes, I knew that it was scripted, cartoonish, cheesy entertainment, and nothing more than a guilty pleasure. But I was still fascinated by the industry, my eyes glued to the TV as I watched these male and female gladiators duke it out in this testosterone-filled soap opera: there were good guy "faces" and bad guy "heels", melodramatic storylines, and intense, heated "rivalries" between the performers/athletes.
One may write this off as a redheaded stepchild of entertainment, but nostalgic fans like myself recognize the obvious work ethic of the real people behind the brawler. They sacrifice their bodies, minds, and even life to entertain the masses, all for the glory and the adulation of their millions of fans. That's what Mickey Rourke's character in The Wrestler, Randy "The Ram" Robinson, is all about.
A huge star in the 1980's who headlined Madison Square Garden, sold out pay-per-views, and had his image on video games and action figures, is now a broken shell of his old self. Battered and bruised from two decades of abuse, and now only headlining high school gym venues (at best), Randy has nothing to hold on to but his glory days. Living in a trailer and working part-time at a supermarket deli, Randy continues to endanger himself in the ring, despite the obvious fact that his days are behind him.
When he's not taking abuse, Randy frequents a New Jersey strip club, where he's befriended (and fallen for) stripper Cassidy (Marisa Tomei), whose age is also a sign of her getting too old for her demanding and beauty-obsessed line of work.
Randy soon learns that his promoter wants to set up a special 20th anniversary match against the Ram's old foe, The Ayatollah (Ernest Miller). Sensing that it may reignite his career, Randy increases his training. But after a brutal hardcore match at his next show, Randy suffers and barely survives a massive heart attack. Receiving coronary bypass surgery, Randy is told that his body can no longer take the damage of wrestling.
After visiting Cassidy and telling her of his dilemma, she suggests that he visit his long-estranged daughter Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood), who initially wants nothing to do with the man who abandoned her years earlier. But Randy persists, not only trying to win back his daughter's love, but also to let Cassidy know how he feels about her-- all as the anniversary match with the Ayatollah looms even closer.
That's the basis for director Darren Aronofsky's fourth film, a tender, heartbreaking, masterstroke of a movie. Abandoning his nausea-inducing style that made his Pi and Requiem for a Dream so magnificent, Aronofsky reverts to intimate, human-scale drama, and does so with amazing success.
Of course, the driving force behind the film is Rourke, who delivers the performance of his life. If Sin City was the appetizer for Rourke's comeback, then The Wrestler is a very delicious and very welcome main course. His grappler is, in the character's words, "a broken-down piece of meat", estranged from his daughter, and living in a trailer park. He only lives for the cheers of his fans, which gives him solace in a world that chewed him up and spit him out years ago. As noted by many critics, the story parallels the life of Rourke himself, who fell off the radar after a promising career in the 80's. He disappears into his character, showing a man who, despite his mistakes and missteps, is a truly good man who just wants to regain his former glory.
As he tells stripper Cassidy (a marvelous Tomei), the only place that he doesn't get harmed, ironically, is in the ring. It's the "real world" that hurt him. Surprising to me, however, was the fair treatment the industry of pro wrestling received here. Yes, some negative aspects of the business is shown (drug use and the excessive barbarism of some matches). But it also portrays men and women who, despite their scripted feuds, truly love and support each other, and live to entertain their devoted fanbase, even though sometimes, the world can turn on them just as fast as it embraces them.
Such an example is a scene where Randy arrives with other old school wrestlers for a meet-and-greet session at a veteran's hall, which is virtually empty save for a few fans. The sight of these old men waiting to recapture the fans' love and adoration is absolutely heartbreaking, and a telling sign of how cruel show business can be.
The Wrestler is not so much an examination of professional wrestling as it is a study of second chances, the burdens of stardom, reconciliation, and rebuilding oneself after nearly destroying oneself. An excellent vehicle for Rourke's comeback to Hollywood's (and the audience's) good graces, The Wrestler stands as not only one of the best sports films in recent years, but one of the best films in recent years, period.
LETTER GRADE: "A+"
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