The Wrestler

This movie has been billed as the resurrection on Mickey Rourke, and I think that is fair. This is an actor who has brought us some good performances over the years and some truly awful ones; this is his best. That said, it's not perfect. There are times the movie gets overly sentimental and looses touch with its gritty nature.

The Wrestler is the story of Randy "the Ram" Robinson, a professional wrestler who's best days are behind him. His body is severely damaged from years of applying the Ram Slam and metal folding chairs to his head. Yet he continues to put on shows: pumping iron, popping pain pills, dying his long blond hair, tanning and injecting steroids. After one particularly gruesome show, he collapses from heart failure. As he tries to come to terms with retiring he pursues a relationship with a stripper (Marisa Tomei) and tries to repair the relationship with his estranged daughter. Ultimately working menial jobs and the real world can not replace the desire to perform.

This is not the feel good movie of the year, and its also not the best movie of the year. It is a small interesting character study with a couple of actors doing some of their best work. The reviews for this film are great and I don't disagree with them, I just wonder if people were so pleasantly surprised by Rourke that they gushed a little too much. I know the genie is out of the bottle, but I wish we all could have found this movie without the hype.