The Wrestler

Bill Simmons writes about The Wrestler.

I need a few more viewings before I can rank it on my all-time sports-movie list. Will it suck me in at 3 a.m. after I've just watched it three weeks before? Will I stick around for an extra 20 minutes just to catch an ending I've already enjoyed and digested 30 times? That's when you know.

I doubt I'll watch The Wrestler again. I forgot - because Aronofsky is such a talented guy - that his movies make me wince. They insist upon finding a moment (or more) of such brutality and human suffering, it makes me feel ill. Call me a prude or unsophisticated, but it isn't exactly why I watch movies...not that there is a single reasons I watch movies...but generally, it isn't about turning away from the screen, covering my eyes, or subjugating myself to endure inhuman suffering. The Wrestler has several of these moments. Requiem for a Dream has several. Pi has one.

I'm also not a fan of wrestling. I liked Hulk Hogan and Randy the Macho Man, the WWF when I was really young, but I lost interest after that. Although I liked watching the Rock get interviewed - "Know your role, Jabroni!"

So, with this in mind, The Wrestler succeeds at what it sets out to do - tell a painful story about a washed up semi-celebrity. Rourke is incredible - I thought his faced was mashed from make-up, but Simmons seems to think he did it to himself boxing. Marisa Tomei is awesome - she's doing incredible work post-40 acting work. The big blotch on the movie is the Evan Rachel Wood storyline which is pretty lazily written and acted. Could they afford only 1 or 2 days to shoot with her?