R E V I E W S

Ready to Rumble (2000)

Voices: David Arquette, Scott Caan, Oliver Platt, Rose McGowan
Director: Brian Robbins
Rating: PG-13

Studio: Warner Bros.

Review Posted: 5.13.01

Rating: 2/4

By Dan Peters, who breaks heads.

Professional wrestling (even though it's all set up) is very popular here. There are two wrestling programs. First was the WWF (World Wrestling Federation) and after the huge sucess of that, Ted Turner created the WCW (World Championship Wrestling). So now we get a movie for the die-hard fans of the WCW titled Ready to Rumble, which is basically a movie trying to advertise the WCW.

The movie is about Gordie (David Arquette) and Sean (Scott Caan), two big goofballs who clean port-a-potties for a living. They are obsessed with wrestling and they got tickets to the next show in their area. Their favorite wrestler is Jimmy King (Oliver Platt), who's on a winning streak and this match will get him the belt. He is to face Diamond Dallas Page (himself) and win. But Titus Sinclair (Joe Pantoliano) tells Page to really beat up King. And so Page wins the match and gets the belt when King should've won and gotten it. And so King is kicked out of the WCW.

This really upsets Gordie and Sean and so they decide to go and try to help King regain his respect and honor. And so begins their journey.

Oliver Platt was horribly miscast as King. I couldn't believe him for one second that he was a wrestler. Platt is a very talented actor and doesn't need to be playing stupid parts like this. David Arquette (Dewey from the Scream trilogy) and Scott Cann (Varsity Blues, Black & White) is what you would expect from them in a movie like this. The real highlight for performances were the appearances by Bill Goldberg, Sting, and Diamond Dallas Page.

The movie has a couple of funny moments but nothing more than a chuckle. The jokes are pretty much lame potty mouth jokes and wrestling jokes. That's all this so called "comedy" has. The only real highlight was the appearance by Martin Landau as a wrestling trainer. And that wasn't even that funny.

Well, at least the wrestling scenes are well constructed and is sure to entertain wrestling fans. It all looks much better than it does on TV and this all is the biggest plus in the movie.

I'm going to cut this film some slack and give it 2 instead of 1 or 1.5. There is really no reason for this, I guess it wasn't that horribly bad (even if I said the only really good thing was the wrestling scenes and the cameos by the pro wrestlers). If you're a fan of wrestling or this type of lame humor, then Ready to Rumble is for you.

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