The Wrestler (2008)

All Critics (217) | Top Critics (44) | Fresh (216) | Rotten (5) | DVD (6)

It's a wonderful, career-reviving performance, and you can't imagine the movie without him. Welcome back, Mickey.

January 16, 2009 Full Review

Rene Rodriguez

Miami Herald

Top Critic

Predictable as it is, this sad, strong beast of a film keeps us pinned to the mat with the strength of its compassion and the overpowering force of its central performance.

January 16, 2009 Full Review | Comment (1)

Amy Biancolli

Houston Chronicle

Top Critic

Aronofsky directs with unfussy candour, alternating between the intensity of the wrestling and the drabness of Randy's 'real' life.

January 16, 2009 Full Review

Tom Huddlestone

Time Out

Top Critic

The chance to play that poignant confusion is the real prize that Rourke and Tomei earn in The Wrestler.

January 14, 2009 Full Review

Roger Moore

Orlando Sentinel

Top Critic

The movie presses too hard and too often, but the performances are strong enough to withstand the melodramatic impulses, and the themes of isolation and self-destructiveness are too sharply realized to be trivialized.

January 9, 2009 Full Review

Tom Maurstad

Dallas Morning News

Top Critic

The Wrestler has the intimacy of a fly-on-the-wall documentary. No stunt men were harmed -- or used -- in the fight sequences. But the drama makes for vibrant art.

January 9, 2009 Full Review

Lisa Kennedy

Denver Post

Top Critic

Emotional and engaging, The Wrestler is a masterful piece of work that deserves every award the Academy can throw at it.

September 29, 2012 Full Review

Ali Gray

TheShiznit.co.uk

Rourke makes you feel every ache, disappointment and battle scar, both inside and out.

September 29, 2011 Full Review

Neil Pond

American Profile

The Mick is back.

August 16, 2011 Full Review

Kelly Vance

East Bay Express

Savour one of cinema's rawest talents finally powerslamming his way to glory and be grateful that Aronofsky dragged himself off the ropes on countless occasions to convince the money men to finance the movie with such a seemingly unbankable lead actor.

July 14, 2011 Full Review

Ben Rawson-Jones

Digital Spy

[Rourke's] performance here is so good and unshowy that you wind up almost happy to keep watching that mangled mug struggle for redemption.

April 4, 2011 Full Review

Dave White

Movies.com

There was no character to root for more strongly in spite of himself in 2008 than Randy the Ram, and "The Wrestler" spat and bled his physical poetry - an elegy of emasculation and exhaustion building, in its final shot, to all the exhilaration he needed.

December 15, 2010 Full Review

Nick Rogers

Suite101.com

Rourke doesn't need makeup to look this permanently damaged these days, and some of the emotional scars in his performance probably run painfully close to reality as well.

June 13, 2010 Full Review

Ian Buckwalter

DCist

Gran actuación, gran película, 109 minutos sin desperdicio a dos de tres caídas. Recomendable sin duda alguna.

March 11, 2010 Full Review

Luis Martinez

Cinenganos

Whatever mistakes and indignities and turmoil led Mickey Rourke to where he is now, whatever demons have plagued him -- they all lead to the 1 hour and 55 minutes of magnificence that is his performance in' The Wrestler.'

December 24, 2009 Full Review

Matt Soergel

Florida Times-Union

Despite the low-tech feel, The Wrestler is very tight and disciplined. The score is spare but effective, nothing is wasted in dialogue or action, and the fight choreography and stunts are incredible. Rourke is phenomenal.

December 15, 2009 Full Review

Karina Montgomery

Cinerina

It's brutal yet sincere, funny yet solemn -- Darren Aronofsky has made a remarkable film that expertly depicts the reality of a sport it both honours and berates.

October 31, 2009 Full Review

Anders Wotzke

Moviedex

It's a testament to Mr. Rourke's talent that Randy's life and attempted redemption never devolve into maudlin, unearned sentimentality.

August 30, 2009 Full Review

Sonny Bunch

Washington Times

The Best Film of 2008

August 2, 2009 Full Review | Comments (15)

Blake French

Filmcritic.com

Any film that can make you feel the utter loneliness of a character like Mickey Rourke's is one that you can totally endorse. Yes, he's as good as they say.

July 18, 2009 Full Review

Paul Chambers

CNNRadio

I don't know if I've ever seen an actor more honest and vulnerable on screen.

May 15, 2009 Full Review

Greg Maki

Star-Democrat (Easton, MD)

Rourke wears his scars (both physical and emotional) with such naked humanity that his performance becomes a kind of on-screen outpouring of his own grief and waylaid potential

May 11, 2009 Full Review

James Kendrick

Q Network Film Desk

Extras on the disc include a featurette bringing together filmmakers and wrestlers to talk about the movie, and a Bruce Springsteen music video.

May 6, 2009 Full Review

Brian Webster

Apollo Guide

• 1. Randy "The Ram" Robinson: I used to try to pretend that you didn't exist, but I can't. You're my girl. You're my little girl. And now, I'm an old broken down piece of meat... and I'm alone. And I deserve to be all alone. I just don't want you to hate me.
  2. Randy "The Ram" Robinson: Bet'chr ass man, Guns N' Roses! Rules
  3. Randy "The Ram" Robinson: Then that Cobain pussy had to come around & ruin it all.
  4. Randy "The Ram" Robinson: As times goes by, as times goes by, they say 'he's washed up', 'he's finished', 'he's a loser', 'he's all through'. You know what? The only one that's going to tell me when I'm through doing my thing is you people here.
  5. Randy "The Ram" Robinson: Hey lady - you want some fucking cheese? Get your own fucking cheese!
  6. Randy "The Ram" Robinson: The only place I get hurt is out there. [Randy points away from the ring]
  7. Randy "The Ram" Robinson: Fresh? Fresh as monkey's breath, brother!
  – Submitted by rick b (13 months ago)
• 1. Randy "The Ram" Robinson: Hey, spring chicken, what can I get for you?
  – Submitted by Ian B (23 months ago)
• 1. Randy "The Ram" Robinson: When you live hard and you play hard and burn the candle at both ends... in this life, you can lose everything you love, everything that loves you. Alot of people told me that I'd never wrestle again, they said "he's washed up", "he's finished" , "he's a loser", "he's all through". You know what? The only ones gonna tell me when I'm through doing my thing, is you people here. You people here... you people here. You're my family.
  – Submitted by rob g (2 years ago)
• 1. Randy "The Ram" Robinson: I just want to tell you, I'm the one who was supposed to take care of everything. I'm the one who was supposed to make everything okay for everybody. It just didn't work out like that. And I left. I left you. You never did anything wrong. I used to try to forget about you. I used to try to pretend that you didn't exist, but I can't. You're my girl. You're my little girl. And now, I'm an old broken down piece of meat... and I'm alone. And I deserve to be all alone. I just don't want you to hate me.
  – Submitted by rob g (2 years ago)

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