The Wrestler with Mickey Roarke

Well, I got my wish. I saw The Wrestler starring Mickey Rourke and Ms. Tomei. Not very impressed. The acting was mediocre, as the characters were, in a word, flat. Honestly, Mickey Rourke has a plastic face that shows little emotion, and even though he looked the part of the grizzled ring veteran, he rarely was, in my opinion, acting. Hell, in the most emotional scenes, you couldn't even tell he was sad until a trickle tear rolled down his cheek. I do know that he's an odds on favorite for the Best Actor nod because he was in 99% of this movie, and it was a character movie completely--no story, just vignettes from a fighter's life. Marisa, although keeping in top physical form at age 44 and not afraid to show it; wasn't given a single witty line. And the plot was thinner than, well, Mickey Rourke's post-collagen skin. The best actress, by far, was the wrestler's daughter, playbed by an actress I don't even know. She was outstanding! So, Slumdog takes it for me. Like Davey and Goliath, the tiny Danny Boyle film that is only now getting traction at the theaters takes it, pounding the biggies like Pitt in Benjie Buttons.