The Wrestler - A Night at the Movies with Kevin Leckerman

If you were a boy who grew-up in the 1980s, most likely, the world of professional wrestling was a major part of your life. You watched the WWF wrestling matches every Saturday morning. You had the action figures. You even practiced the signature moves of your favorite wrestler on your friends and siblings. Ahh, those were the days.

“The Wrestler” chronicles the life of a fictional wrestling superstar from the 80s, Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Mickey Rourke), who never retired. Ram continued to wrestle for two decades after his heyday. As with most professional wrestlers, Ram never achieved a huge payout. His reward was the adoration of the crowd. It also served as an addiction that punished him as severely as any drug or alcohol abuse. During those twenty years, Ram sacrificed his physical and emotional well-being.

Set in northeast New Jersey, Ram is limited to performing at local gymnasiums in front of crowds of a hundred or fewer people, instead of at the stadiums where he formerly performed. For extra cash, Ram works at the ACME under a manager who verbally taunts him. Ram lives in a mobile home that is routinely padlocked by the manager of the trailer park, because Ram routinely fails to pay his rent. For companionship, he frequents a seedy strip joint where he has found an emotionally unavailable dancer (Marisa Tomei) on whom he has focused his attention and spent his meager earnings.

Overall, the main story of “The Wrestler” is banal. Ram is like any other washed-up professional who failed at balancing his career and personal life. Moreover, as with these tales, Ram experiences a turning point that causes him to take stock of his life. As a result, he turns to his estranged daughter, Stephanie (Evan Rachael Wood), in order to find a new path in life. There are probably a hundred other films that follow the same storyline. So, who really needs another?

Yet, two factors lift this film above obscurity. The first is the film’s director, Darren Aronofsky. The man doesn’t know how to make a humdrum film (“Pi,” “Requiem for a Dream,” and “The Fountain”). As such, there is an implied guarantee from Aronofsky that his films will not have typical Hollywood endings. Furthermore, Mr. Aronofsky has a penchant for exploring the darkest parts of human behavior. Therefore, an Aronofsky film will show you a side of life that part of you will regret seeing, while the other part of you finds it fascinating.

In “The Wrestler,” Mr. Aronofsky reveals all of the unglamorous aspects of the professional wrestling world. From the fake tans, dyed hair, and steroid abuse to the behind-the-scenes choreography involved before each match, nothing is left untouched. And there is nothing appealing about this lifestyle.

As in “Requiem for a Dream,” where the dirtiest parts of Brooklyn serve as metaphor for the decay of the characters, Mr. Aronofsky utilizes the post-industrial corridor of New Jersey to represent the deteriorated character of “The Ram.” Every scene features the dinginess and dilapidation of this armpit of New Jersey. As with this environment, Ram has no hope for rejuvenation.

The second factor is Mickey Rourke. Rourke personifies the “broken-down piece of meat” that “The Ram” becomes. Every physical movement outside of the ring involves intensive pain and labor. Each breath appears to be asthmatic. Groans are expelled in synchronicity with locomotion. Ram is a decrepit eighty-year-old man inside the exoskeleton of a hulk. You feel the physical anguish that Ram suffers.

Beyond the physical pain, Ram is an emotional cripple. Most likely, Rourke dredged the riverbed of his personal failures and transformed them into Ram’s. Nevertheless, the persona of Mickey Rourke never seeps into the character. In fact, Rourke makes “The Ram” into such a sympathetic character that you believe maybe Mickey Rourke is not such a douche bag after all but a decent human being.

**See While In Theatre

Kevin Leckerman – 1/21/09

**(Rating System)

See Immediately = See immediately before a moronic co-worker or pedantic movie reviewer spoils the plot.

See While In Theatre = Don’t rush out, but see it while in the theatre, even though your hard-earned money is subsidizing the salary that some jerk off movie producer will be paying to the live-in Mexican maid at his new Malibu home.

Wait For Video = Self-evident.

Wait For Cable = Don’t waste the five bucks or the effort of putting the movie onto your Netflix cue.

Wait For Television = Best to see when you’re too tired or lazy to get off the couch to put a decent movie into the DVD player.

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