Shawn's The Wrestler Review

2008 Movie #163 - The Wrestler

I was really looking forward to watching this one, even before all of the positive buzz started to come in. Now I gotta say, this is one fantastic movie. It's easily making it's way onto the top 10 list I would say. It may be nearish the bottom, but it's still a great movie.

A lot has been said about the performance of Mickey Rourke in the lead role and I have to say, it's deserved. I don't think it's as impressive as Marv in Sin City, but it's damn good. His character reminded me a slightly smarter, more crass, Rocky Balboa. Despite his many mistakes, you can't help but root for the guy. You want things to work out for him and it's genuinely sad when they don't, even when it's his own fault. Great character and a great performance.

It was also cool to see a good role go to Marisa Tomei. And she shows her boobs a lot, so nothing wrong there either. I thought she was really good and I also liked Evan Rachel Wood in a somewhat small role. She's another actress I don't think I've seen in a while. Then again I can't think of anything I liked her in so maybe that's ok. She's good here though.

I just liked watching this movie unfold. I love the camraderie between all of the wrestlers. It's a side you don't normally see and there's a great scene at the beginning where they are all discussing what they will each do in their matches. Very cool stuff.

Also any movie that not only features an original Nintendo, but actually takes the time to invent a game for it, is automatically awesome. I mean they took the fucking time to show us an 8-bit wrestling game that doesn't even exist! That's just pure awesome.

It's a simple movie, but it's a great way. It has a sort of documentary feel to it that really works well and really helps draw you in to the story and the characters. Great movie.

**** 1/2 /5