Mickey Rourke in 'The Wrestler'

I remember as a teenager, the impact of ‘9 ½ Weeks’ on pop culture of the time. A very risqué movie for it’s day, considered immorally misogynist by many. Although I have not seen it since the 80’s, I imagine, as is usually the case, it appears tame by 21st standards.

Mickey Rourke was very cool during this time. 80’s Brando in style, but without the substance. But, as has been widely reported, his star faded, and he pursued professional boxing and Chihuahua rearing through his awful 90’s. Until the ‘The Wrestler’.

This is a very good movie and I have no issue with his Oscar nomination for Best Actor, despite his role being so autobiographical in spirit, that to call it ‘acting’ would, at times, be disingenuous. This is most apparent when Rourke’s character, Randy the professional wrestler laments to the love interest about the demise of music since Cobain hit the scene. For all that, his performance is fantastically compelling. A massively flawed character, who we can’t help being interested in. In fact, besides the over hyped main performance, the direction and mood of the film is wonderfully dark, thankfully avoiding the Hollywood treatment, and the supporting cast is first class.

The question is begged – where to now for Mickey? There surely cannot be many roles for an over plasticized, long haired, beef cake, 50 something.

Regardless, I will be watching.