Movie Review: The Wrestler (2008)

Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler is a pitch perfect representation of the wrestling industry and a fascinating portrait of a man whose star has burnt out. Twenty years after Randy the Ram’s (Mickey Rourke) heyday as a big time professional wrestler in the eighties, he has squandered his money and ignored important family relationships. He is now as washed up as they come, living in the back of a trailer, or sleeping in the back of his truck when he can’t pay the rent. He works the small independent wrestling circuit on the weekends and tries to make extra money as a regular blue collar supermarket employee every weekday hour that is offered to him.

Randy fills many evenings with a trip to the strip club to see the middle-aged Cassidy (Marisa Tomei). She is his only acquaintance. He shows her his battle scars from better days, tells her his stories of former glory, he is her audience, and she is his. Randy has a narcissism about him in that his connection with current events, technology, fashion, all ended when he was no longer a star. He owns a Nintendo Entertainment System from the eighties, but only because there is a game with him in it. By the time the film starts, he is woefully out of touch with modern fashion and pop culture, as evidenced by his choice of clothes as a present for his adolescent daughter. This however makes him charming to an audience and to Cassidy, whose name ‘off duty’ is Pam.

Before seeing it, many will likely perceive this film to be a typical sports movie in the same vein as Rocky, but this is a gross misconception. This is not even a film definitively about wrestling; it is about the industry’s impact on this man’s life and relationships. It launches a scathing attack on the practices the wrestling industry employs and highlights the abuse of a man’s body to satisfy the hunger of the masses. Another particularly impressive aspect of the movie is that it offers enough backstage detail to satisfy wrestling fans but not so much that it alienates a mainstream audience; the balance is between realism and drama is perfect.

The film itself has a relatively linear plot arc, the inciting incident being Randy having coronary bypass surgery after a particularly brutal hardcore match. He is subsequently told not to wrestle anymore and has to withdraw from his big 20th anniversary fight with a wrestler whose gimmick is based on the real life Iron Sheik. He attempts to mend bridges with his daughter, tries to take things to the next level with Cassidy, and tries to work hard like any blue-collar employee. What results is almost inevitable but completely natural, and it is to the film’s credit that the audience will not abandon Randy but will empathise with him.

Some critics have commented that Mickey Rourke’s entire life may as well have been a method acting exercise in preparation for this role, but this is highly disingenuous. Make no mistake, Rourke delivers a tour de force here, the defining performance of his career and it is flawless. The subtlety, charm and pain that he brings to the character makes Randy the Ram the fatally flawed protagonist that he is; this role in the hands of a lesser actor (or indeed the rumoured initial choice Nicholas Cage) would not have carried the same emotional weight. The fact that he has called upon real life experience is neither here nor there; any good actor should be able to play close to himself, but in this instance Rourke is fully immersed as Randy the Ram. Tomei continues her string of excellent performances and is impressive as the stripper with a line that cannot be crossed when it comes to customers.

The Wrestler seems simplistic in its delivery and understated in its approach, but what results is an interesting character study with much to recommend it. I would venture to suggest that the clichéd story with Randy’s daughter is an unnecessary aside as are one or two other scenes in the movie. Nevertheless, excellent performances compliment a downbeat but nevertheless emotionally engaging piece of work that goes against the grain of many a bygone sports movie and becomes compelling viewing.

GRADE: B+