I'm going to do the 3-10 people who read this blog a favor and tell you not to go see The Wrestler. I had never heard of this movie until the guys on a radio talk show that I listen to were praising it like they were being paid to do so. And after watching it, I think maybe they were. After they hyped it up so much I found a trailer online and was blown away. The trailer made me cry so I thought for sure this movie was going to be amazing. I mean really, who cries during the trailer?
One thing I hate when people review movies is when they critique acting. Mostly I hate this because the people doing the critiquing don't act and so how the hell do they know what it takes to be a good actor or not. Another thing I hate is when people insist that a movie is amazing and that if you didn't like it it's because you missed the point. This clearly insinuates you aren't smart enough to see the bigger point the movie was trying to convey.
Let me state very clearly that I didn't hate The Wrestler for any of these reasons. I thought the acting was pretty good. I mean I believed the main character was a beaten down old wrestler. All the fill in wrestlers looked enough like guys who I saw wrestle at county fairs growing up in the south. And I certainly didn't like it because I left confused. Nope, I got it. Old dude can't give up the dream because he can't do anything else. He realizes after a heart attack that he's wasted his entire life wrestling so he tries to quickly build relationships with his daughter who he's neglected for years and a stripper who he loves. Once these two options blow up he goes back to wrestling because it's the only thing he knows. I think I got the point.
The talk I heard leading up to seeing it was that it really makes you feel bad for these guys who continue to beat the hell out of themselves for literally no money and no fame. I'd say the movie also does a decent job of conveying this aspect. Well, at least it shows you they beat the hell out of themselves and then get almost no pay for it. Maybe I'm just not a nice person, but it didn't make me feel sorry for any of them because it's a decision these guys are making.
When I go see a movie I want it to be one thing, entertaining. That's all I want from a movie. There are a ton of levels of entertaining so I generally find that I like a wide variety of movies. The only highlight of this movie is when Marisa Tomei is naked in the strip club. And, luckily, for the movies sake, it happens about 5 or 6 times. I joked with a friend before going to see this movie that I love movies she's in because she's always naked. Good thing this movie was no exception or it wouldn't have a single redeeming factor.
I think the most annoying thing about the movie is that they seemed to use the same camera crew as the guys in The Blair Witch Project. When dude would walk the camera would walk behind him and shake the same way it does if its mounted to your shoulder. I didn't get motion sick or anything from the constant bobbing up and down of the camera but it did get on my nerves about 3 minutes into the show.
So, there you go. If you want to see Marisa Tomei naked just go rent "Before the Devil Knows Your Dead" for like $3 bucks at blockbuster. You'll come up $7 ahead and it's just about as bad of a movie as The Wrestler. If you want to see old people get thrown through a table, I'm sure there's youtube videos that can hold you over and won't take nearly the time commitment.
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