single serving review: the wrestler
close your eyes for a second and try to think of the sorest your muscles have ever been. an epic bike ride, a long run, a tough workout, whatever. you were pretty sore, right? now multiply that times a crapload and i imagine that’s what every day feels like for the movie’s titular character, randy “the ram” robinson (played magnificently by mickey o’rourke), an amalgam of bespandexed real-world 80s pro wrestlers. broken and beaten with his heydey long gone, the movie follows randy as he faces the choices he’s made both professionally and personally over the course of his life.
this movie deserves all the awards and accolades bestowed upon it: the cast and crew as well as the camera work are all top shelf. although the raw and graphic violence is sometimes hard to watch, the touching and genuinely funny scenes really counterbalance that weight.
my only (very minor) complaint is that there were a couple of overused clichés in the story that i could have done without, but other than that it’s hard to find any glaring faults in this great movie.
4.5/5 hearing aids
