The Wrestler

Darren Aronofsky
2008

Indie geek Darren Aronofsky's latest picture may be his least sensational and most grounded to date, which is a hoot considering it takes place in the spectacle-driven world of "pro" wrestling. It's been hailed as Mickey Rourke's big comeback picture even though he did a spectacular job in 2005's "Sin City." When all's said and done "The Wrestler's" a tough one to take seriously as it suffers from not one, but three painfully cliched conceits/tropes. The first and most ham-fisted of these cardinal sins is Marisa Tomei's stripper love interest Cassidy. No knock on Tomei, who does a great job with what she's given, but a stripper love interest? Seriously? The number two fumble comes from the completely expected, completely rote inclusion of Rourke's long suffering abandoned daughter and his pathetic attempts at reconciliation. Again, the acting from both Rourke and Evan Rachel Wood is fine work, but the scripting of this relationship is utter hacksville. Finally, Randy "The Ram" Robinson is saddled with a bum-ticker to put a little fire under the drama. Admittedly this isn't as cheesy a notion as the previous two, but there's something a little too expected about it. Any two of these cinematic stumbles would be cause for disapproval, but having all three in tandem goes a long way to ruining what pleasures "The Wrestler" does have to offer. Sure, Mickey Rourke is great. Sure, the milieu of the low-rent wrestling circuits provides some evocative atmospherics. But the almost never-ending deluge of stale plotting ruins the fine performances, clever touches of humor, and the sadness of faded glory.