Fox Searchlight Pictures, in association with Saturn Films and Protozoa Pictures, presents The Wrestler, a film by Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream). The screenplay was written by Robert D. Siegel with cinematography by Maryse Alberti (Taxi to the Dark Side). The Wrestler stars Mickey Rourke in the title role with Marisa Tomei in the supporting female role. Evan Rachel Wood plays Stephanie, Rourke's estranged daughter. This film is not yet rated, however the content clearly merits an MPAA “R” rating for language, sexual situations, adult situations, and drug use. This picture runs 109 minutes.
Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Rourke) is a professional wrestler, once at the top of the profession, who is now aging and struggling to hang on to the one thing he knows. His love interest, played by Marisa Tomei, is Cassidy who is a dancer at a local strip club.
The Wrestler is a ho-hum story that is poorly executed as a film. While watching The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, there were times when I wanted to look away for fear of disgust over what I may see next. While watching The Wrestler, I had to look away for fear of being sick to my stomach because of all the shaky hand-held camera work.
This picture is the story of a loser who knows one thing - the professional wrestling game. He is such a loser that he wants to get serious with Cassidy, the dancer who is his age and always has time for him as long as he has a fresh supply of twenty-dollar bills. Shelling out those twenty-dollar bills has made Randy late on his rent, so he finds himself padlocked out of his modest trailer home. Cassidy, holding on to her “I'm a professional” mindset, really likes Randy, but wants to maintain the separation between her professional life and her personal life. Finding himself facing a personal health crisis, Randy reaches out to his daughter, Stephanie. Randy has not seen her in many years and she has a pretty good idea of what a loser he is. The film actually tells us how many years, but really, who cares? There are some emotionally effective scenes between Randy and Stephanie as well as between Randy and Cassidy, but all in all there is nothing much to be gained from this film. Except to see a loser fall back into the old pattern of the only thing he knows when he has a real chance to step away, The Wrestler is an empty, <!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } -->nauseous film experience.