The Wrestler

I will preface everything with this: You will either love this movie or hate it. The movie is NOT about pro wrestling.

The movie is about Randy "Ram" Robinson, played by Mickey Rourke. This is was Rourke's best performance yet, even beating out his character Marv in Sin City. He completely embodied the character.

Now, I said this movie is not about pro wrestling, which is about 90% true. Ram Robinson used to be at the top of pro wrestling in his time but is now relegated down to the less than reputable semi-pro circuit. He plays high school gyms and small even centers for very little money. He is beaten up, bruised, and just generally on the down and out.

The story takes a turn for the worst when he has a heart attack after a match. This is really where the movie and main story begins. With his brush with death he attempts to rekindle his relationship with his estranged daughter. There is also a romantic interest in the movie played by Marisa Tomei. And for the guys out there, she is a stripper, and yep there are a few topless scenes with her (her character has nipple piercings, A+ Marisa).

Like I said earlier, this was Mickey Rourke's best performance. He really took the character to another level and really makes you feel that his character was a real person. He had to do a lot of training for this role, and he isn't a young guy anymore, but everything he did was believable.
The other cast did a great job as well, but this movie really is about Rourke's character and he is mainly what you are seeing.

With this movie, whether you like pro wrestling or not, you will feel like you are an invisible person following these characters around due to the way the movie was filmed. A lot of steady cam work, which actually adds an interesting point of view throughout the entire movie.

Again, you will either love it or hate it, but don't let the fact that this movie's main character is a pro wrestler deter you from seeing it.

Why should you see this movie?
Great story, great character, all around great movie.
Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 30 wins & 18 nominations