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
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