Mickey Rourke is great in it. But forget about plot and cast and anything else. Marissa Tomei. OH. MY. GOD. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Worth renting? I was going to see it in the theater, but wasn't sure I could take Mickey Rourke for two hours. Tomei still looking good? I heard she got into shape for the movie predominantly through holahooping.
In all seriousness, it is a really good movie. Mickey Rourke is actually very good in it. I would definitely recommend it... As for Tomei looking good... she plays a stripper and is naked half the time. She looks amazing. Wait, let me capitalize that for appropriate effect... SHE LOOKS A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! She is the hottest minxiest movie star... she just looks incredible.
I didn't find the film depressing to be honest. There is a very dark feel to the movie, but it's not depressing in my opinion. Mickey Rourke did a fantastic job essentially playing himself. And yes, Tomei looked amazing. BTW, Scott Seigel, the huge who sells Rourke the roids in the movie, got arrested a few months back for steroid distribution. Rather ironic...
I just rented it last week, and really liked. One of the better movies I have seen in a long time. On a side note; Jesse Ventura was on Howard Stern last week, and they talked about that movie. Jesse said that the movie's character was exactly how Jake the Snake was...........
I'm not sure how anyone can watch the movie and not call it depressing. A pathetic over the hill pro wrestler that exists on a few hundred bucks per show after getting beaten, cut, and even stapled for the enjoyment of the crowd. His only personal interaction is kids in his trailer park and a stripper who he has to pay to talk to him (at least at first). His daughter hates him. He is basically the biggest loser you can imagine. Not even getting into the ending, it is extremely dark and depressing. You don't really "enjoy" a movie like that, you only experience and remember it. Best scenes though involved Tomei. She didn't just look good for being 45, she looked dang good period. A couple of scenes I wondered if there was some CGI trickery with her head on a 25 year old's body. She looked that good.
Maybe I read all the hype but I thought it was so so. Rourke did well and she looked well lets just say I didn't need any roids for her. But it was shot in such a cheap hand-held video text and it was so low budget. I liked it, but just was expecting more. But it was life and how people really live. Now where is that strip joint she worked in...
Great movie. I liked the "dark" aspect of it. Marissa looked amazing, I wondered also if there were CGI or body doubles for her.
One thing I did think was rather unbelievable was when Tomei the stripper was having trouble getting guys to buy lap dances from her, I suppose the implication was that she was too old. (Also makes a point that both Ram and her were way past their prime in their respective professions, in that way they had a lot in common). But the thing is that anyone that looked as good as her wouldn't have any trouble getting customers, IMO. If she actually had been a little less shapely and MILFtastic...perhaps those scenes wouldn't have seemed so forced.
I wouldn't call it depressing... Ram, while a tragic character, is reasonably happy. He enjoys hanging with the local kids, he is known and respected in the ring, he doesn't hate his job, even if he dislikes his boss (but even his boss gets some comeuppance in the end when Ram catches him watching porn at work). I am not sure there is really that much of an element of a guy living a tragic life full of depression... he seems somewhat content in his place in life. In the end, he patches things up with his daughter, and he gets the girl. A happy ending (presumably one of many with a wife like that!). I didn't find it depressing, really.
I think it's okay for the takeaway message to be different for everyone or to have different meaning to one person. As for me: I think it is depressing because we see a character whose sole identity and happiness revolves around the high of being in the ring. Any effort to break free of his identity results in feelings of sadness, sorrow, regret, and displacement. Only when he is given no option, but to quit does he look for other places of happiness only to find out that his selfishness has estranged others around him and left him empty. He wants to re-establish a relationship with his daughter, yet gets caught up in the high of being Ram and blows her off (At the end he doesn't patch things up with his daughter). He wants to establish a relationship with a woman but out of the ring he isn't really a man that anyone would want to hold a conversation with - unless he was paying them or they were impressed by his stature that is based off of his ring identity. I think you even see hints that a relationship with Cassidy(Melissa Tomei) would have crumbled the second he got too caught up in the wrestling lifestyle again. He realizes that his body can't hold up any longer but outside of the ring he has no skills and his senses are dull to any other type of occupation. His lifestyle and need for that "high" can definitely be compared to someone suffering from a substance abuse addiction and it's tendency to drive that person into a selfish lifestyle while alienating those around them at the same time. I think it is also depressing because you see the results of someone who has only focused their entire life in one direction and neglected everything else. And we see the effects of that. It is a little happy and reassuring when at the end we see that he does find peace and comfort going back to the only thing that can fulfill him, but you can't help but feel sorry for him because for him there is no other option. But at the same time you can't feel sorry for him because this is what he chose and now he has to sleep in the bed he made.
It was really late when I watched it, but I thought after standing up his daughter for the the girl with the fireman fetish, his daughter told him in no uncertain terms that she never wanted to see him again. In the end scene, Ram's heart is giving out because of the strain in match, just as his doctor told him. And when he looked back at the curtain, Cassidy was no where to be seen. The implication I took from the ending was that he died. Not depressing?
Like many movies, the ending is left largely open... we can sort of decide how things go for Ram. Cassidy drove many miles to see Ram. She watched and when she saw he was in pain, she was borderline in tears, and she left. Ram only took the match because he had lost his daughter (again), lost Cassidy, and basically said "f-it" and didn't care if he lived or died at so went back for the last match. In the final scene, Cassidy comes back, but Ram has already committed. He gives his speech saying he isn't washed up and so on... but has major trouble during the match, and the last scene we see him struggle to pull off his signature move for the win. And that's it. Did he have a heart attack while pinning his opponent? Maybe. Did he realize he really couldn't wrestle anymore, but went out on a high note beating his arch-rival? Maybe. Did he work things out with Cassidy? Maybe... no reason to think he didn't, she drove all that way to see him. As for his daughter, she forgave him for years of never being there, so perhaps he had a final change and made up with her for good. Who knows... I guess it's up to each of us to fill in the blank. I'm an optimist I think Ram realized during his final match that that was really it. The door was open with Cassidy, and he can work to smooth things with his daughter. Or maybe he decided it was death by heart attack I thought it was a great movie... didn't find it depressing.
Pretty decent flick, could almost be Rourke's autobiography. Nothing to complain about, which for me is pretty rare when it comes to movies. Characters were good, well written and acted. I'm not sure what Tomei's lines were though.
I had open heart surgery last year. So, for me, that part was totally unrealistic. He made it seem so easy. Gosh how I wish that was the case! I didn't find it depressing. It was well acted. I liked parts, didn't like other parts. I can't see any current wrestlers liking it as it shows the phony-ness so matter of factly. I thought it's portrayal of the people and events in wrestling was honest (for a change). I'd recommend it.
Not a bad movie but way below my expectations... Especially for Darren Aronofsky -- see his previous two movies (or three if so inclined) to see what artistic movie-making should be all about: (1) The Fountain (2006) (2) Requiem for a Dream (2000) (3) Pi (not crazy about this one but it's pretty good).
