The Wrestler

From the desk of The Movie Snob

The Wrestler (A-). By contrast to The Reader, I found the characters in this movie easy to understand and empathize with. Mickey Rourke (Diner) plays the title character, a broken-down fellow who was a star professional wrestler back in the 80s. Now Randy “The Ram” Robinson can barely pay the rent on his shabby trailer with his meager earnings from a grocery-store job. But he still wrestles for tiny crowds on the weekends, and only there—in the ring and backstage with his wrestling buddies—does he come fully alive. Otherwise, his life is a mess. His health is failing, and his estranged daughter (well acted by Evan Rachel Wood, Thirteen) pretty much hates him. His boss at the grocery store is a mean-spirited little jerk. He genuinely likes a good-hearted stripper (Marisa Tomei, The Guru) at a bar he frequents, but she’s leery about any involvement with a customer. It is really moving to watch The Ram clumsily try to get his life back on track. I’ll admit it, I shed some tears, and I wasn’t the only one in the theater who was snuffling.