The Wrestler

I hated this movie. Other than giving Mickey Rourke a pass back into Hollywood I just could find any purpose to the film. I get that it was a story about the life of a broken down man, but other than that what? Maybe my feelings come from too many film classes in college, but I doubt very seriously that that was all that the writer and director of The Wrestler wanted to do.

I thought Rourke did a good job, but I thought the role was really rather limiting. There wasn't much depth to the character and when you rely, as The Wrestler did, on an actor to move the film forward I just feel that you have to have something more than 'hey look at the broken down old man.'

I thought Marisa Tomei's role was probably even weaker. Did the awards ceremony last night the presenter (can't remember who) talked about how strong of a character she was, showed there was no shame in being a stripper, blah blah blah. That sounded like an interesting role to watch, but it certainly wasn't a part of The Wrestler. An actor can only do so much and the writer of The Wrestler didn't give her much to do. Frankly, I thought Tomei was little more than a prop in the film.

If the film was just supposed to be about a broken down old man, it succeeded. Similar movies have been made before. Leaving Las Vegas is a perfect example. The difference between the two was that there was depth to the Cage's character. We got to see why he was broken and we got to see why his life might be better if he pulled out of his tailspin. With The Wrestler it was simply, hey look this guy has a shitty life and cue the credits.