Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky) - 2008

Here is a guy who should have gone to college.  This is not your standard love story.  Boy meets girl.  Boy pays for lap dance.  Boy and girl both reveal children from previous failed-relationship.  Boy loses girl.  Boy could win girl but chooses to body-slam The Ayatollah instead.

Mickey Rourke is perfectly cast in the lead role for this movie.  It would have been a different movie with Jim Carrey or Will Farrell as the lead.  Marisa Tomei gives an excellent performance as the pole-dancing girl next door with a heart of gold.

I go to movies to escape, to have an adventure, and to have fun.  I like to identify with the lead character and have a happy ending.  So why would I go to a movie about a washed-up wrestler?  I had some time on my hands. [JAM 2/24/2009]