A faded professional wrestler must retire, but finds his quest for a new life outside the ring a dispiriting struggle.A faded professional wrestler must retire, but finds his quest for a new life outside the ring a dispiriting struggle.A faded professional wrestler must retire, but finds his quest for a new life outside the ring a dispiriting struggle.
- Nominated for 2 Oscars
- 58 wins & 93 nominations total
Dylan Keith Summers
- Necro Butcher
- (as Dylan Summers)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDue to the film's modest budget, Axl Rose donated the use of Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" free of charge for the final match.
- GoofsThe promoter mentions that Ram's match with Tommy Rotten will be for "the strap", which refers to a promotion's title belt. However, following Ram's victory over Rotten, he is not seen holding a title belt or announced as the new champion.
- Quotes
Randy 'The Ram' Robinson: The only place I get hurt is out there. The world don't give a shit about me.
- ConnectionsFeatured in At the Movies: Summer Special 2008/09 (2008)
- Soundtracks(Bang Your Head) Metal Health
Written by Frankie Banali, Carlos Cavazo, Tony Cavazo, and Kevin DuBrow
Performed by Quiet Riot
Courtesy of Hands On Productions, LLC
Featured review
A Haunting Portrait Of Loneliness
Wow, what a sordid but fascinating film. I can why Mickey Rourke won so many awards for his performance, too. The same goes for the film.
The film was shocking to me: For instance, it was a shock seeing Rourke -"Randy The Ram" - with the long, flowing blond hair and rippling muscles. Hey, it's not that former boxer was ever in bad shape, but he never had muscles like this either. The man must have pumped a lot of iron to get ready for this role as an aging wrestler.
Another shock was seeing Maria Tomei, of "My Cousin Vinny" fame, naked - and in that state in more than one scene. She didn't leave much to the imagination as "Cassidy." A third shock was seeing some of the early wrestling scenes. Yeah, pro wrestling is rough stuff and it's bloody and it's fake, etc., but the scenes in here are pretty brutal, more than I've ever seen on TV. The one extended match with the "staples" was pretty gruesome.
Evan Rachel Wood is convincing as Randy's daughter "Stephanie." This 21-year-old is no stranger to acting, having been doing it since she was four! The scenes with her and her dad are memorable.
When the shock of the above scenes of sex and violence (and language) fade away, underneath it all is a very tender, sad tale of a lonely man who invested too much in his career and, after coming close to mortality, realizes the important of family and simply being loved by anyone. That's what sticks with you long after the film ends. Loneliness can be a killer.
"Randy" tries to mend fences and post a few himself - in his final quest not to wind up as an island in this world of humanity - with both successful and unsuccessful results. Sometimes you can never change what you are, and sometimes you can. Both of those are demonstrated here in this oddly-edgy-but sentimental film.
The film was shocking to me: For instance, it was a shock seeing Rourke -"Randy The Ram" - with the long, flowing blond hair and rippling muscles. Hey, it's not that former boxer was ever in bad shape, but he never had muscles like this either. The man must have pumped a lot of iron to get ready for this role as an aging wrestler.
Another shock was seeing Maria Tomei, of "My Cousin Vinny" fame, naked - and in that state in more than one scene. She didn't leave much to the imagination as "Cassidy." A third shock was seeing some of the early wrestling scenes. Yeah, pro wrestling is rough stuff and it's bloody and it's fake, etc., but the scenes in here are pretty brutal, more than I've ever seen on TV. The one extended match with the "staples" was pretty gruesome.
Evan Rachel Wood is convincing as Randy's daughter "Stephanie." This 21-year-old is no stranger to acting, having been doing it since she was four! The scenes with her and her dad are memorable.
When the shock of the above scenes of sex and violence (and language) fade away, underneath it all is a very tender, sad tale of a lonely man who invested too much in his career and, after coming close to mortality, realizes the important of family and simply being loved by anyone. That's what sticks with you long after the film ends. Loneliness can be a killer.
"Randy" tries to mend fences and post a few himself - in his final quest not to wind up as an island in this world of humanity - with both successful and unsuccessful results. Sometimes you can never change what you are, and sometimes you can. Both of those are demonstrated here in this oddly-edgy-but sentimental film.
Helpful•12323
- ccthemovieman-1
- Mar 24, 2009
- Permalink
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $6,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $26,238,243
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $202,714
- Dec 21, 2008
- Gross worldwide
- $44,734,660
- Runtime1 hour 49 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
![Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler (2008)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTc5MjYyOTg4MF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNDc2MzQwMg@@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg)