THE WRESTLER

Gene Siskel is often quoted by his surviving partner as saying "It's not what a movie is about, it's how it's about what it's about."

I mention this because of the woman who sat in front of me when I saw THE WRESTLER last night. She was obviously there as a favor to her boyfriend, who was already paying the price by listening to her say things like "If this is one of your ROCKY BALBOA things or another KARATE KID I'm making you go see CONFESSIONS OF A SHOP-A-HOLIC with me when it comes out."

Charming!

I feel good for the guy, actually, because by the end of THE WRESTLER his shrewish lady-friend was just as affected as the rest of us in the audience, and I think he got out of having to watch a spunky chick buy boots for 90 minutes.

What THE WRESTLER is about has been done before. How it is done this time is pretty much perfection.

Mickey Rourke is Randy "The Ram" Robinson; a professional wrestler who has fallen out of the limelight since the late 80's when he was in his prime. He still wrestles, but it's not in the arenas and stadiums any more. Mostly it's high-school and civic center auditorium bouts. Places where hard-core fans still show up and pay $10 a head to see musclebound characters "pretend" to beat the shit out of each other in (and out of) the ring. Sure, wrestling is "fake"- the athletes are shown in their makeshift dressing rooms discussing the outcome of the fights and working out details with each other. But the hits they are taking are still real hits. The chairs to the head and the drops from the turnbuckle still take it's toll on the human body, and Randy's body is just about all used up.

The guy is a walking junkyard, figuratively and literally. His face is ripped, scarred and swollen. His body is still pumped up, but his skin is starting to look puffy and leathery from years and years of tanning and toning. He's using steroids and enhancers. He needs a hearing aid. He's dying and highlighting his stringy 80's hairdo. He's falling apart.

Randy lives for the rush he gets in the ring. He is a pile of hamburger, but it's worth it when he's flying through the air and tossing an opponent over his shoulders. But during a particularly horrifying exhibition match, something terrible happens to him, and THE WRESTLER is the story of how he tries to cope with losing the only thing he still has in his life.

My wife is a tremendous fan of movies about misfits and losers who manage to find kindred spirits and come together. One of the first movies we ever saw together was BOOGIE NIGHTS and it touched her that so many lost souls could find a safe place to be themselves. She has an affection for ED WOOD for the same reason, and a slew of other "loveable losers" who find a way to cope with the harsh realities of not fitting in.

What is most poignant about THE WRESTLER is that it's titular character isn't the lovable loser. He's a hard-headed bull of a man. He never found anywhere to fit in after his fall from grace. He can't cope with any sort of reality. Without wrestling, he has nothing.

Randy knows a stripper, played in an Oscar-worthy performance by Marisa Tomei. She's exactly like him: aging, in over her head, losing the ability to effectively do what she knows how to do. We first see her attempting to please a group of young bachelor-party revelers who are openly insulting her for being so old. She insists that she can still get the job done, but they are only interested in being crass. Randy identifies with it and tries to help. But he's just another guy, and Cassidy's "rules of conduct" force her to keep him at a distance.

As a person who's worked in a strip club and seen women attempt to make a living competing every night for the attention of clients, let me just say that I have never seen a more realistic depiction of a topless dancer on film before in my life. Tomei knows about the subtlety of being polite to men who have cash, and she knows how and when to let someone in long enough to feel special. Most importantly, she thinks she has the ability to put a stop to someone getting TOO close to her. Most strippers who have been around the block end up seeing a customer outside of the club at least once, and it almost always turns out the way it does here. Real and raw and forlorn.

There is a sub-plot involving Randy's estranged daughter that feels forced, at first. And contrived after a second encounter. It takes patience and a willingness to appreciate how it resolves itself to put the rest of it in perspective.

Has anyone said enough about how amazing Rourke is in this thing? I am a long-complaining curmudgeon when it comes to people heaping praise on a movie solely for an actor's performance in it. In this case, Rourke carries the weight of the film on his shoulders. It would truly be nothing without him. This isn't a case of a bad script or a plot-driven story with a single noteable performance. This is a beaten, nearly broken-down old warhorse who has made a decision to play a beaten, nearly broken-down old warhorse. He deserves every word of praise that he has been given for this.

This is a terrific movie. It's rife with metaphor (the title alone suggest more than just the profession of the main character). THE WRESTLER is the kind of film you would have seen in the 1970's at the height of Hollywood's "Second Age", when character pieces and studies of human behavior took precedent over special effects and catch-phrases. Director Aronofsky and cinematographer Maryse Alberti capture some amazing and legendary iconic moments that will be discussed in years to come. Everyone will comment and mention the moment where The Ram walks through the "backstage" and emerges into his new profession. I found some subtle glory in some more personal moments as well, though. Randy flipping his daughter's photo over and revealing a string of phone numbers; The expression on Cassidy's face when she sees what he goes through in the ring. The harrowing moment of relization that crosses Rourke's beaten, weathered face while he lies crouched in the woods, unable to even jog any more without it hurting.

THE WRESTLER proves that you can make an effective, moving, emotional story without resorting to cheap reaction shots and orchestral cues on the soundtrack. It shows that you can tell a story that you have seen before, but tell it in a way that makes you wonder what will happen next, even though it might be obvious. And it earns its' ending. That's all I will say about that. Sure, it's a wee bit exploitive... predictable, and a touch melodramatic.

But so is professional wrestling.



NOTE: I tried not to be crass in this review because it's rare that I see and enjoy a movie that I feel has been over-hyped. But it seriously bears mentioning that Marisa Tomei is easily one of the most beautiful actresses working in film today. A lot has been said about her decision to appear nude in this movie. All I can say is that when you look that incredible at 43, you should show off as much as you want.