That's the problem with all of "Vision Quest" -- when the movie ends with Louden narrating off-screen his "live for today" philosophy, it's plausible in his mouth, a joke for adults.

A movie with some nice surprises, mostly because it takes the time to create some interesting characters.

[Matthew Modine's] portrait of Louden Swain is multi-layered and believable, both on and off the wrestling mat. It's one of those rare performances that carries an otherwise-mundane motion picture.

Vision Quest improves substantially as it progresses into a midsection rife with appealing, entertaining subplots...