Review: The Wrestler (2008)

Title: The Wrestler
Year: 2008
Starring: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood
Genres: Drama, Sports
MPAA: R for violence, sexuality/nudity, language, and some drug use
Kids-In-Mind.com: 8.7.8
My Rating: 8.2
Up or Down: Thumb Up
IMDb Rating: 8.3 (Top 250: #116)

Synopsis: Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Rourke) was the biggest professional wrestler from the 1980s. In 1989 he lost a sold-out match to his biggest rival, a Persian wrestler named The Ayatollah. Twenty years later, he's working in a grocery store and wrestling on weekends at small events. He meets and befriends a stripper, Cassidy (Tomei), who encourages him to get his life back together by visiting and reacquainting himself with his daughter, Stephanie (Wood). Randy has a heart attack one night after a match due to the drugs he was using to build his body. The doctor tells him to cease wrestling. Randy seeks out and finds his daughter, who'd hated him, and after an emotional evening, convinces her that he cares. After setting a dinner date with her and breaking it after getting drunk and having sex at a bar, she decides to disown him once again. All the stress in his life causes him to blow up and spontaneously quit his grocery store job and rejoin the wrestling community despite the doctor's warnings. He wrestles in a rematch with The Ayatollah and as he's about to body slam his opponent, the film ends.

My Take: This was a fine film. Rourke's performance was Oscar-worthy, and sure enough, it was nominated for Best Actor. The film was also nominated for Best Picture. The way the movie highlights the pitiful life Randy's living after such fame and glory is moving and compelling. I enjoyed this picture.

Concerning the rating: The 8.2 puts this film in a tie for 43rd with fourteen other films.

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