Last summer everybody told me to go see the Wrestler. It got great reviews and was the film that gave us comeback of Mickey Rourke. I figured I’d like it, and for the most part I did.
Rourke plays a own on his luck former wrestler who used to be a big star in the wrestling world but who fell on some hard times. To pay the bills he works at a grocery store and does small wrestling venues. His health isn’t great and after having a heart attack, he is urged by his love interest (played by Marissa Tomei) to reconcile with his estranged daughter. He hasn’t spoken to her in years, but his health, and his desire to earn points with the girl push him to try to connect with her.
Thats where it gets interesting, and it got me thinking. In movies, its easy to be critical of a film that tries to do too much, say too much, and accomplish too much. And sometimes you watch a movie and you feel like the people who made it weren’t really sure what story they wanted to tell, or even knew how they wanted to tell it (i.e. Hancock, Bedtime Stories, & Mission to Mars). But this time, I think it was intentional because… they wanted to show how the Wrestler, Randy the Ram, wasn’t sure either. He wanted lots of things, his career, his girl, his health, his daughter, etc… – but wasn’t sure exactly how to get any of them, and how he allowed his issues to get in the way of each of them.
In the end, he choses his career which means he loses his girl, his health, and his daughter. So it was easy for me to finish the movie and think to myself, okay, I’ve been rooting for this guy, and in the end, he chose his career over everyone else. But the more I thought about it, I was okay with that. The movie showed that even the screw up who lets everyone else down, is extremely selfish, and abandons those who love them when they need them, can be sympathetic. I watched the movie hoping he’d change in order to be with those who needed him, but in the end, he didn’t and that’s what was so compelling for me.
Its worth seeing.
