Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood

The wrestler is the story of retired professional wrestler, Randy "The Ram" Robinson, making his way through the independent circuit, trying to get back in the game for one final showdown with his for...( read more  read more... )mer rival.

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86% liked it

41,659 ratings

Critics

98% liked it

204 critics

R, 1 hr. 45 min.

Directed by: Darren Aronofsky

Release Date: September 5, 2008

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DVD Release Date: April 21, 2009

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Stats: 13,932 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (13,932)


  • August 26, 2009
    wow it's almost like fans of wrestling and hair metal are the same species as us. it got too sentimental and predictable in the middle but i'm sure glad they didn't cop out on the ending
  • July 18, 2009
    Eh, the acting was great - Tomei and Rourke really did kick ass, I was genuinely pleased to see a stripper painted in such a human light (instead of the usual gawking omg stripper! portrayals usually churned out) but while it painted a sad picture, I still didn't feel like I knew...( read more) the characters well enough (although maybe that everyman thing was part of the point but bahhumbug I don't buy it!) and it just seemed like oh wow, another piece of art about the pain of being washed up and sticking with antiquated dreams... please, create something new, don't rehash what's been done ad nauseum.
  • July 9, 2009
    Amazing performances all around... poignant and sad.
  • July 3, 2009
    Anyone notice his resemblance to Dog Chapman?
  • June 14, 2009
    A comeback story of sorts about a down-and-out professional wrestler years past his prime who is friends with a stripper years past hers, apparently. After suffering a heart attack a hardcore match with Necro Butcher, Randy has no choice but to retire. So, like 90% of the guys in...( read more) the business his life turns to shit after he leaves pretty much the only thing he's ever known. He reconnects with his daughter and tries to start a relationship with Cassidy, the stripper, but ends up losing both. So, he turns back to wrestling again, which almost proves to be a fatal mistake. With this film and story, the wrestling part of it is secondary. It's a story about how far a guy has fallen who still gets by based on what he knows and is forced to make a decision that changes his life. In the end, he decides to do what he loves - no matter the cost. Excellent acting all-around, but especially by Rourke, who almost won an Oscar for this. He should have, certainly. It was called a comeback, but really it isn't as Rourke has still been doing films for the past several years, just not as high profile as what they were back in the 80's. Sound familiar? The movie is basically about him.
  • November 8, 2009
    "The Wrestler" é um filme que retrata com muita naturalidade, a solidão; a resignação e outras misérias de que um homem infeliz pode ser acometido. O personagem principal escolhe pelo que é mais real para ele, mesmo que isso signifique a sua própria destruição.
  • November 6, 2009
    La rinascita di Mickey Rourke.
    Che poi Randy è palesemente lui.
    Splendido.
  • November 4, 2009
    Film is like private life of Mickey Rourke. Listening too much stories about that, but film does not match with what we hear about. Not bad.

    A story about retired professional wrestler with go go table dancer.
  • November 4, 2009
    Muito bom, quando você faz pouco do filme e ele te surpreende!!!
  • November 3, 2009
    Darren Aronofsky's astonishingly powerful, utterly absorbing and deeply moving drama is a specific portrait of a life - the life of a professional wrestler. Mickey Rourke stars (and yes, that is the unequivocal word for it) as Randy "The Ram" Robinson (or Robin Raminsky as was hi...( read more)s original moniker), a down-and-out ex-80s superstar of hardcore wrestling on the East Coast who now spends his days working in the stock room at a suburban supermarket and his nights taking part in violent, disgusting matches in high school gymnasiums and union halls. Randy is old but tough, enduring the demeaning existence of a minimum wage hire while trying to make his rent; early in the film he is locked out of his trailer because he can't pay his rent due to his last match not paying as much as he was expecting. What's a former star to do but sleep in his van in the cold New Jersey snow? When he's not working, Randy frequents a local strip joint and cultivates a growing crush on an aging stripper called "Cassidy" (real name Pam, played by Marisa Tomei). She likes him, but she has "a line" that she does not cross with customers. His intentions seem honorable and sincere enough considering her line of work, but she's having none of that, despite what her gut may be telling her. What little plot there is kicks in when, after a particularly brutal match, Randy suffers "another heart attack" and is implored by his doctor to quit wrestling. He begrudgingly agrees at first, and, at Cassidy's suggestion, even seeks out his daughter Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood), now a vaguely Goth and dramatic college student who has age-old resentments and wounds that the sudden reappearance of her father can only reopen, rather than repair. Darren Aronofsky is the one-time wunderkind of the Sundance scene, having previously made the cult classic cyberpunk thriller "Pi" (1998) and the visually stunning, grunge-infested addict drama "Requiem for a Dream" (2000; my favorite film that year). He took a break for a while, attempting and finally succeeding to bring the perplexing and visually gorgeous sci-fi epic "The Fountain" (2006) to the screen with Hugh Jackman and Aronofsky's paramour Rachel Weisz, to critical and audience indifference and loathing. This film is a comeback of sorts for Aronofsky then, but it's unlike any of those previous films. Gone is the gritty homemade quality of his debut film, as well as the hip hop-influenced hyperkinetic flash of his sophomore effort. With this film, Aronofsky works for the first time with cinematographer Maryse Alberti ("Happiness," "Velvet Goldmine"), who has a background shooting documentaries mostly ("Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," "Crumb," "Taxi to the Dark Side," "No End in Sight"). Using a grainy handheld camera, the results are gritty and utterly realistic. Gone too are the sensationalistic effects of Aronofsky's previous oeuvre; here, the biggest special effect is Rourke who, we gather, does much of his own wrestling - or at least appears to. This is actually perhaps Aronofsky's most easily watchable and accessible film to date because despite the brutality of the three or four wrestling scenes, it is totally spellbinding - you can't avert your eyes. A confession: I grew up as a fan of professional wrestling (back when WWE was WWF and before a wild-life foundation claimed the acronym for itself) and I was hardly ever subjected to wrestling this intense, harsh and just plain violent! Aronofsky, working from a gripping original screenplay by Robert Siegel, gets all of the physical details right - we see locker room negotiations between fellow wrestlers, talking it through, discussing strategems and verbally rehearsing the layout of their matches beforehand. The wrestlers, old and new alike, seem to get along and even party together after long nights at "work." Early on, when Randy is "supposed to" get cut, we see he's removed a razor from under his wrist tape and cuts himself while down, away from the prying eyes of the audience as his "opponent" keeps them distracted with his antics. Mickey Rourke's performance is something of a miracle, an astonishing revelation, a comeback that is long past-due (despite the slight resurgence after back-to-back triumphs in "Sin City" and "Domino" a few years back), a harking back to his glory days ("Barfly," "Angel Heart," "9 1/2 Weeks"). Like Randy, Rourke hasn't just disappeared, but has been out of the limelight for 20 some-odd years and has a hunger to regain his former prestige. His Randy is an amazing creation, a showcase in which all of Rourke's best and worst qualities are on display: his humor and warmth, as well as his rabid anger and capacity for bad boy antics; this is a raw, undiluted portrait. Tomei nearly matches him with somewhat lesser material; her Cassidy is scarcely less complex, but her performance is more subtle. How these two wounded birds find each other in this garbage dump of a modern world is utterly spellbinding, and profoundly moving. The film finds its heart, however, in Randy's struggle to adjust to "retired" life and when it goes wrong, it just plain snowballs. He is a wrestler; what else was he gonna do? By the time Cassidy is on his wavelength, he's long gone and it's actually too late; Rocky and Adrian this ain't. How Siegel and Aronofsky choose to end their film I'll leave you to discover, but let me just say that upon reflection it feels true and right; you know the ending reality would dictate, and so much do you come to care for Randy that you hope to all that is sacred that you're wrong. I challenge you not to have goosebumps and tears during the final moments of this film. Aronofsky has crafted a living, breathing, richly detailed, utterly convincing portrait of a specific existence; the term "slice of life" is apt - this cuts to the bone. One of 2008's very best films!



    NOTE: Nominated (deservedly) for 2 Oscars for Actor and Supporting Actress. Also, the winner of 2 Golden Globes for Best Song and Best Actor, and nominated for Best Supporting Actress.

Critic Reviews


January 16, 2009
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle

Predictable as it is, this sad, strong beast of a film keeps us pinned to the mat with the strength of its compassion and the overpowering force of its central performance. full review

January 16, 2009
Nigel Andrews, The Financial Times

The platitude-intensive script by Robert Siegel would have been laughed off the screen without Rourke's dogged grandeur. full review

January 8, 2009
Marcy Dermansky, About.com

Mickey Rourke is heart-breakingly good. full review

December 24, 2008
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Mickey Rourke plays the battered, broke, lonely hero, Randy ('The Ram') Robinson. This is the performance of his lifetime, will win him a nomination, may win him the Oscar. full review

December 17, 2008
Armond White, The New York Press

Aronofsky inflicts as much pain on the audience as self-flagellating Ram Jam does when brutalizing/mutilating himself in and outside the ring. full review

December 17, 2008
A.O. Scott, The New York Times

The Wrestler shows that, in both movies and wrestling, the line between reality and play-acting may be less clear than we assume. full review

December 17, 2008
Claudia Puig, USA Today

It's no Raging Bull, more like Rocky shot with a handheld camera. But Rourke's wounded tough guy is undeniably captivating. He smacks you in the gut and wrenches your heart. full review

December 15, 2008
David Edelstein, New York Magazine

This is a case where an actor makes the difference. full review

December 8, 2008
Anthony Lane, The New Yorker

What Rourke offers us, in short, is not just a comeback performance but something much rarer: a rounded, raddled portrait of a good man. full review

October 10, 2008
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

Aronofsky pulls all the usual strings in The Wrestler. But in the end the movie works, maybe because the best things about it are things that Aronfsky isn't even conscious of. full review

View more The Wrestler reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • raicuvirgil
    August 31, 2009
    it's such a great movie..and about the ending..they let us guess,which is a great ending for a great movie
  • srhguire
    June 4, 2009
    absolutely adore this film..its so gud!xXx
  • XXB002OOXX
    April 15, 2009
    i have not,see the movie yet.but to ithinck is really a good one...
  • jwnulife
    February 16, 2009
    Come on guys. This is overrated.
  • ThelittleguyFFXI
    January 30, 2009
    THAT MOVIE WENT FROM GOOD TO HORRIBLE..

    if there was 0 stars.. i give it 0 stars..

    how does the movie not have an ending.. i thought it was supposed to be an "inspirational movie" just like Titanic..

    did the Titanic movie end when the ship crashed into the iceberg..? NO.. the movie kept going and you get to see people fall off the ship and die in the cold water with some survivors who tell the story..

    LEAST they could do is SHOW some "RESPECT" to The Wrestler and show him dive off the ropes to perform his diving attack.. win the match.. and THEN die of his heart attack.. but the producer is too "NARROW-MINDED" to even show that..

    now we can all remember how the producer is too NARROW-MINDED to give us a TRUE ENDING in "The Wrestler"
  • hoopzgirl1141
    September 14, 2008
    I want to see this movie so bad!!!!
  • thedoctor2k7
    September 2, 2008
    it might be gd

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