The Wrestler
Composite Score: 87.13
Starring: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, Mark Margolis, Todd Barry, Wass Stevens, Judah Friedlander, Ernest Miller, Dylan Keith Summers, and Tommy Farra
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Writer: Robert Siegel
Genres: Drama, Sport
MPAA Rating: R for violence, sexuality/nudity, language, and some drug use
Box Office: $44.73 million worldwide
My take on Watching This Film:
The Wrestler is Darren Aronofsky’s film about a washed-up professional wrestler seeking to keep his career alive, pursue a romance with a local stripper, and renew his relationship with his estranged daughter despite his debilitating health and minimal cash flow. The film stars Mickey Rourke as Randy “the Ram” Robinson, the titular “wrestler”, joined by Marisa Tomei as the stripper that has caught his eye, Cassidy, and Evan Rachel Wood as his daughter Stephanie. It follows Randy as he seeks to revitalize his career with a 20th anniversary match of his iconic grudge match against “The Ayatollah” (Ernest Miller) despite warnings from his doctor that his heart cannot take the strain of professional wrestling anymore. It’s a tough but gripping character study that earned Oscar nominations for both Rourke and Tomei thanks to their strong performances.
On the one hand, The Wrestler is simply a study in what happens to most people who pursue professional wrestling as a career path, paying homage to the small-time wrestling circuits that populate small town event centers while also addressing the troubling nature of the sport and its parasitic nature on those who rely on it for income. On the other hand, it serves more poignantly as a study in fame and performance and the lengths to which people will go to maintain a public persona even if it means the collapse of the world as they know it. Both Rourke’s and Tomei’s performances present contrasting approaches to characters who perform for a living – one unable to separate themselves from their persona and the other strongly opposed to any blending between their public and personal lives. This thematic exploration via the contrast between these two characters whose lives have become entwined takes what is already a powerful character study of an aging professional wrestler and amps the whole thing up with a look at the human experience of being known, being unknown, and the desire to walk the line between the two.
Headlined by powerhouse performances by Marisa Tomei and Mickey Rourke, Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler is a difficult but incredibly poignant film about fame, dedication, and the world of professional wrestling that certainly deserves a mention with the greats. The heaviness and violence of the film can be difficult to go back to time and again, but the performances and the story that they tell are definitely worth seeing at least once. You can currently rent this film on most streaming platforms if you’d like to check it out for yourself.
