The Wrestler

The Wrestler (Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood) – Gritty, grinding, grueling and gross, this look at an over-the-hill professional wrestler is not a fun watch.  Featuring Academy Award nominated performances by Mickey Rourke as Randy “The Ram” Robinson and Marisa Tomei as the lovable stripper, Cassidy/Pam, The Wrestler reminds me of Monster.  That film, which earned Charlize Theron an Oscar, was also a low-budget ($7-8 million) flick featuring hand-held cameras or Steadi-cams with lots of tracking shots.  It is clear why The Wrestler didn’t get nominated as best film while its two stars did.  The characters are flawed; the cinematography is grainy; and the story is purposely slow, I believe.  Rourke, a Hollywood bad boy who has played memorable characters in forgettable films (there are exceptions like Body Heat, Diner, Sin City, and Bullet), is truly worthy of the Oscar nomination.  At 56, he is in great shape as he tries to hang on in a profession made for young men.  When he has a heart attack following a grueling match, he is struck with his mortality.  He tries to mend fences with his long-ignored daughter (Wood) while starting one with the stripper he has known for years.  Tomei is still gorgeous at 44 and she shows all (as she did in Before the Devil Knows Your Dead) while displaying surprising range – from sex goddess to gritty stripper to caring friend to mother.  This is a movie well worth seeing when you are in the mood.  It would be as good at home as it is in the theater.