Commodore Nicole's Blog: I'm an old broken down piece of meat

The Wrestler - Movie Review

So a few date nights ago, Mikko and I were considering what we wanted to go see. With it being Awards Season, there wasn't a lot to choose from. You have your nominated films, or you have the sludge movies that the studios have to make to appease the actors contracts.

Now usually I'm all for nominated films. I mean they are nominated because it's some quality stuff. Except...there is a lot of peril going on in these films. And honestly...I'm having a hard time digesting peril since becoming a mom. Not that I'm all for peril at any other time...just that since adding this little person to my life, I don't need to seek out more worry - even if it's only for 2+ hours.

Now, much like my experience with The Lakehouse and it's tie to City of Angels, I'm not one for "Down and out" movies. I got burned pretty bad by Leaving Las Vegas. I felt absolutely horrid after that movie and it took alternating viewings of The Pirate Movie and Star Wars to get me to cast off my Eeyore mood. So no, I don't actively seek out movies when the potential for the main characters to end up broken or dead is fairly high.

After considering the options, we decided on The Wrestler. I figured I kind of already knew where the plot was headed and I'm not a huge fan of Mickey Rourke anyway, so how much could I become invested?

Uhm, more then I thought. I wasn't giddy when we left the theater, but there wasn't a rain cloud hanging over my head either. I really enjoyed this movie. It is touching movie, and it will resonate with your feelings. But not in the Hollywood style of wrenching your gut till you scream of pain just for the sake of showing the actors skills.

Mickey Rourke plays Randy "The Ram" Robinson. Once a great star in the world of wrestling, he is reduced to independent circuts. Basically the events were the has beens, the wanna bes and the never will bes cross paths to cheaply entertain the fans. Randy wrestles because that's what he knows, he does it really well, and people still cheer for him. Life, however, is a completely different matter.

Life he is not good at. In the ring he can plan out a match so that he and his opponent can showcase the best of their abilities and give the crowd a good time. In life, he can't pay his rent on his shitty trailer, his part time job is working for a lousy manager, his clothes are tattered, his only sincere friendship is with a exotic dancer who he pays to have face time, and this is all fine with him as long as he can wrestle.

And when he has a heart attack that forces him into retirement, his perspective changes very little. He is content in the fact that he did do it for as long as he could. Like he's saying to himself "I wrestled. And now I'm retired." Unfortunately he realizes how lonely he is. His wrestling gave him a rosy tint to his gray life. And when it's gone he is lost.

In a effort to live his retirement he tries to form real relationships with the people around him. One being the exotic dancer Cassidy (played by Marrisa Tomei). This character is suppose to be his mirror image, reflecting what he could be. Maybe she isn't living an ideal life, but she is living her life. She is a women who is quickly coming to the end of her career, and she knows it. Cassidy tries to keep Randy at a distance, but realizes the same thing he has, they need to form personal relationships because they won't always have their career.

I enjoyed the subtle story telling. At almost every turn, there was opportunity to include some really edgy material. But it didn't. For example in one scene he invites one of the neighborhood kids to come hang out. I thought for sure that something inappropriate was going to happen. Or if it didn't, the kid was going to later say it did. But nothing ever materialized from the event.

Instead the scene was used to show how simple The Ram was. He wanted the kid to come play his Sega game with him. So that he could feel a little of the adulation. Didn't really pan out though. Seeing as he was fishing for worship from a kid who was too young to remember The Ram at the height of his fame with a Sega consul that is older then him.

I really appreciate this choice by the writer, the director and the actor. Because sometimes I think these heightened dramatic moments usually get included simply for the sake of "pushing the boundaries". Of course thats what you're suppose to do to get a nomination.

That isn't to say there isn't any drama to the movie. There is. Most of it surrounds The Ram's relationship with his estranged daughter. I thought these scenes to be the most sincere and relative the the audience. This is a man who could be angry at the world for everything he didn't have. But the lost fame didn't matter. He just didn't want his daughter to hate him or his memory for that matter. Unfortunately, through his inability to manage his life with the skill same skill of a wrestling match, she doesn't even hate him.

There are some pretty gruesome wrestling scenes thrown in. I probably only call it gruesome because I (unlike my great grandmother) am not a huge fan of wrestling. But there is a few pretty funny moments too. While preparing for a match, The Ram and a partner shop a dollar store to find props. At one point I think you can hear them giggle like school girls.

Much like the character, The Wrestler is a simple film that follows the last days of a guy who simply wanted to do what he does best - wrestle.

One last thing:
I know that Mickey Rourke has really done a number on himself. That he, like his alter ego, could not live life even if it was written for him. But can someone please tell me what the hell is going on with his finger nails?