Ready To Rumble

December 10, 2004

Rated: R Runtime: 122 min Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

If you’ve seen the trailers, you pretty well know what to expect here. This is not exactly an intellectual movie, and unless Goldberg has a talk with some Academy members, don’t expect any Oscar nominations. Check your brain at the door because this one is going to shave some IQ points. But again, this is exactly how this movie has been marketed.

Ready To Rumble

What we end up with is roughly a cross between Monday Nitro and Dumb & Dumber. Two stereotypically pathetic losers named Gordie (David Arquette) and Shawn (Scott Caan) idolize wrestler Jimmy King. And yes, to them wrestling is very real. When Nitro comes to their town, they are in attendance only to see their hero fall from grace and be fired, and they are determined to help him reclaim his past glory.

Jimmy King is a fictional character played very well by Oliver Platt. However, the other wrestlers shown are mostly present and past WCW superstars including Goldberg, Diamond Dallas Page, Sting, and many others. You’ll also find Martin Landau in an absolutely hysterical role. He almost saves the movie.

But alas, this movie failed to click for us. It had a few too many slow spots and a number of scenes that were meant to be funny but instead were just stupid. There are some good laughs, but the real flaw here is that the movie only partially went over the top when it comes to being stupid. If you’re going to be stupid and silly, you’ve gotta really go over the top and let it all hangout. Instead of keeping us in stitchs, they let us catch our breath too often while having some serious character moments.

My hunch is that wrestling fans will enjoy the movie because the movie does have some funny moments and the wrestling sequences are very well choreographed and that helps take up some of the slack. It’s also fun to see your favorite wrestling characters on the big screen. We were particularly fond of seeing the Nitro Girls running around in their undies as they are our favorite characters! If on the other hand you have no idea who the Nitro Girls or Goldberg are, you probably should skip this one.

Posted by Billy Bob | Filed Under 2 Stars, Comedy, David Arquette, Oliver Platt, R, Rose McGowan, Scott Caan, Theatrical, the wrestlers of WCW.