Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Mickey Rourke) was all the rage in the 80s. Now it’s twenty years later and while the occasional stray fan still asks for autographs, Randy can’t make his rent, or so we learn, when he’s locked out of his RV in a trailer park. Coming to terms with his failures, instantly we think of the parallel between the life and career of Mickey Rourke the man, and Randy the Ram, the wrestler. With no way to make his bills, and because he needs to cover his expenses for those blonde highlights, recreational drugs and tanning booth sessions, he takes a shelf-stocking job at the grocery store despite his Wrestling manager insisting on ‘two words: re – match!” The only comfort Randy finds is in Cassidy (Marisa Tomei) a dancer at a strip club who seems to take an interest in his woes despite not being able to ‘leave with the customer.’ But when a heart attack gives him a new perspective, she insists he seeks out his estranged daughter (Evan Rachel Wood). And then there’s the weekend deli job which is delivered with aa smart twist in understanding what lies beneath his character. Along the lines of “Raging Bull” but not as complex, this story tells of a man who only sees pain as a way of redeeming himself – kind of a ‘sacrificial lamb’ – as is made clear early-on with a reference to “The Passion of the Christ.” A stretch of a role for both Rourke, and especially Tomei, who bears all and then some, certainly a smart small movie that has a lot of punch. Three and a half tiaras
