The Wrestler

Name: The Wrestler
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Released: 1971-01-01
Rating: 5.7

DramaComedy20m

🍅99%

🍅

99%

Tomatometer

🍿

88%

Popcornmeter

5.7

TMDB

Storyline

A worried father tries to end the relationship that his son Andries has with the wife of a wrestler.

Details

DirectorPaul Verhoeven

ReleasedJan 1, 1971

StatusReleased

Original languageDutch

Reviews

8 reviews · 7 critics

7 fresh · 0 rotten

Critics consensus

“Mickey Rourke gives a performance for the ages in The Wrestler , a richly affecting, heart-wrenching yet ultimately rewarding drama.”

99% TomatometerRotten Tomatoes

Deborah Ross

RTThe SpectatorAug 29, 2018

A story of personal ruin and while it certainly does echo Mickey's own life, it wouldn't be fair to say he is playing himself. Sure, Rourke's performance must have been informed by his own past, but that is different, as well as peculiarly powerful.

Candice Frederick

RTReel Talk OnlineMar 21, 2017

Great performances, great story.

Eddie Cockrell

RTSydney Morning HeraldJan 22, 2009

Who better than Rourke to sell the idea of a battered, yet proud pugilist in search of redemption?

Gayle Sequeira

RTBFIAug 27, 2025

Aronofsky makes movies about people who suffer for their art, but in The Wrestler, suffering is the art, the spectacle that people are so drawn to. A distillation of his most enduring themes, it still foregoes his more disorienting visual tricks.