‘The Wrestler’ DVD features great film, not much else

"The Wrestler" DVD (NR)
Grade: B

Yes, Mickey Rourke is back again to kick some ass, this time as a professional wrestler in the film titled, well, “The Wrestler.” Also, since it’s out now on DVD, you can watch Rourke beat the piss out of people from the comfort of you couch. Now that’s entertainment.

The film follows old fart trailer trash professional wrestler Randy “The Ram” Robinson, who, after spending two decades in the “fake” business of professional wrestling, is starting to fall apart at the seams. While the matches may be staged, they are very physically demanding, and the wrestlers sometimes secretly cut themselves with razor blades to make it appear as if they are getting injured from the fight.

The film follows Randy as he prepares for the restaging of a 20-year-old historic match. Along the way, he shoots steroids, dyes the roots of his long hair blond, goes to the tanning salon and gets a few lap dances from his favorite stripper (played by Marisa Tomei) at the strip club. Everything seems to go wrong on the road to the big match, and Randy starts to realize just how much of a pounding his body has taken. In an odd way, it’s a coming of age film.

Viewers can’t help but feel sorry for Randy as he struggles to continue doing the only thing he knows (wrestling), and the extreme realism of the film showcases what life is most likely actually like for a professional wrestler. He is forced to work at a grocery store part time to pay the bills, he lives in a trailer park, he is littered with scars and he wears a hearing aid. It’s a tremendously gripping story that doesn’t let up until the closing credits.

Rourke, a professional boxer, easily makes this film a huge success, and it almost seems as if he didn’t have to act much for the role. (Even Randy’s theme song is the same as Rourke’s was.) Rourke has a history of making stupid career moves – he turned down major roles “Rain Man,” “Silence of the Lambs,” “Pulp Fiction” and “The Untouchables” to instead star alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme in “Double Team” and in Enrique Iglesias’ “Hero” music video – but he seems to have made the right choice here.

The only major letdown of this DVD is the lack of special features. There are none whatsoever on the standard edition DVD, and to get any, you will have to hunt down a copy of the two-disc special edition that sells for around $30 to $40. But if you don’t care about special features and can stomach some blood (not literally), this one is definitely worth checking out.