A Brilliant Conflict

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

I had a good time watching this movie. I don't see why others like to bash it I mean all they were trying to do was get a good laugh out of its audience not try to win an Oscar award.

As World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was going bankrupt, they needed to come up with other ways of earning money, and decided to jump into the film business. Little did they know that within two years, they'd be out of business and their rival, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), would pick up their idea and turn it into a billion dollar industry. Ready To Rumble features two life long wrestling fans, intent on restoring their favorite wrestler, The King (Oliver Platt), back to his former glory. Against all odds, they inspire The King to get back in shape, and compete for one last chance at glory. It's hard to remember through all the intense action and dangerous moves, that professional wrestlers are actually actors, who need to learn a script and play a character, on a weekly basis, so why not put them in movies. It has worked out very well for WWE Films, which has produced some great films, including; The Marine, 12 Rounds, and The Call, but what about WCW's only foray into the movie business? David Arquette was the perfect choice to play this wacky wrestling freak, and he actually had great chemistry with everyone involved. The story told in Ready To Rumble may lack the vulgarity and insanity that has become associated with most modern comedies, but it was certainly something different and did have it's movements of hilarity.

Ready to Rumble is one muddled, ridiculous, and insanely casted wrasslin' comedy. The humor is dismally formulaic and stupid yet somehow manages to induce the occasional chuckle. Most of it, however, is uninteresting mischief, especially the scenes with Arquette and McGowan, which are thankfully few. The bizarre miscasting of this film (Oliver Platt, Joe Pantoliano, and Caroline Rhea???), combined with the WCW wrestlers, sadly turns the film into an exploitive freak show instead of the proper salute to sports entertainment that it should have been. The implementation of the wrestlers and personalities is poorly conceived and gratuitous. The wrestlers are mere muscled garnishes who mostly have no lines and no emotional involvement with the plot. They are either set pieces or extensions of the film's villain, Titus.The major problem with Ready to Rumble is its confusion with the gangster genre. Instead of portraying Titus (Pantoliano) as an oppressive promoter, the uninspired writers imitated the character model of the gangster kingpin only they avoided multiple dimensions or any semblance of interesting character. Titus' brutal tactics do not congeal with the film's tone, which is light-hearted slapstick. Admittedly, gripes of this sort are, in fact, inappropriate since Ready to Rumble is not a character piece. However, the reliance on the gangster genre reveals the distinct lack of a defined wrasslin' genre, which, I think, deserves definition.Excluding documentaries, I haven't seen good professional wrestling cinema to date, but, any film that has Martin Landau in a hot tub with girls is worth at least one look. :)5/10

We first saw this movie a long time ago and it has several laugh out loud moments. We then rented it again for a couple of our nephews, a few years ago, who really enjoyed it. They were at the time wrestling fans who knew wrestling was mostly fake.Last weekend we borrowed it from a friend to watch with those same nephews from a few years ago, and we laughed all the way through it again. The boys no longer watch wrestling, said they are catching new jokes in it this time around.The acting is over the top, and bigger than life but so is wrestling! It is a great movie if you want to escape and laugh for an hour and a half.