Bill Simmons on "The Wrestler"

I know everyone here likes to rag on Simmons being a psuedo-journalist, but I think he does a bang-up job with his review of The Wrestler. He nicely points out how some roles can only be portrayed by one actor (and that you aren't able to say that until after the fact) and talks about how the wrestling industry goes through it's talent like a meat grinder. Not bad at all.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?section=magazine&id=3773747

 

Fenian should be here within the hour to tell you what an idiot you are.

I thought the review was great, I guess that makes me an idiot as well

 

Generalize much?

 

Did you read the other thread on this?

 

Several reviewers beat Simmons to the perfect-actor-for-the-perfect-role angle, as seen on www.rottentomatoes.com.

Joe Morgenstern of WSJ wrote that angle a week ago or more. It's no great critical insight on Simmons' part.

 

Absolutely.

Part was WRITTEN for Mickey, for heaven's sake.

 

Yeah. Mickey Rooney. That's what makes it such an Oscar-worthy turn by Rourke.

 

Read the link on the other thread yesterday. It comes off like Simmons lost focus; that the first half of the review was the review and the second half was why he cannot watch professional wrestling in the aftermath of the Chris Benoit double murder-suicide.

 

As far as I'm concerned, Chris Benoit's escapades should have a lot less to do with him not watching wrestling than the fact that he's fucking almost 40 years old.

 

I have a hard time reconciling Simmons' concern over the abuse Chris Benoit did to his body with Simmons showing his wrestling creds with his attendance at a show, where a guy took a 20-foot dive off the top of a cage. Talk about hypocritical.

 

I thought the review was fine. I don't know if there's any way to "nail" a review like that. I also think it sort of was two different stories; one about how blown away he was by Mickey Rourke's performance and two, about how he's moved on from wrestling and why; I do though, wish, that he might have began a discussion about why I've moved on, for the most part, from wrestling, because it was all right there, with the thumbtacks and staple description. Once a fake sport that did not dare let the cat out of the bag; it has become a fake sport that admits to everything, which has only served to raise the ante on the antics; which has ushered the ultra-hardcore wrestling sideshow. Oh, and Superfly jumped off the cage against Bob Backlund. Not the magnificent one.

 

When appearing together, two indicators which stamp "asshole" on the forehead of any columnist:

(1) Writing as if he/she, and he/she alone, discovered the subject at hand.

(2) Writing as if he/she is the sainted last word on said subject.

If the shoe fits . . .