Until recently, I didn't know much about Mickey Rourke. To be honest, I still don't. But with the release of The Wrestler, a film about a fictional pro wrestler named Randy "The Ram" Robinson, drawing rave reviews, I decided to check out the movie, and do a little research about the leading actor in it. As it turns out, the role Rourke plays in The Wrestler so closely parellels his own life, the line between acting role and real life is blurred.

Bill Simmons, who I generally enjoy reading, wrote a piece for ESPN The Magazine about the movie (http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?section=magazine&id=3773747). Reading Simmons' column was the final push I needed to finally see the movie. The verdict? Instant classic. A sports movie hasn't moved me as much as The Wrestler did in quite a while. Rourke, who plays a broken-down, shell-of-his-old-self wrestler, is magnificent. His Oscar nomination for Best Leading Actor is well deserved. But the fact that this movie is NOT up for Best Picture is a crime. Every aspect of the film shines. The acting (Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood, in particular) is great. The script and dialogue are perfectly crafted. The matches, as Simmons also notes, are brilliantly choreographed, bringing to mind all of the old WWF battles I used to watch as a kid. The movie combines that spectacle, which is what the audience sees on a nightly basis, with the backstage world, as Rourke is depicted injecting himself with steriods and buying everything from pain killers to growth hormones. The stark contrast is a chilling reminder of the brutal lifestyles these professional wrestlers have endured for years. A quick Google search of "dead pro wrestlers" will return enough links to make even a diehard fan shake his head.

I hardly consider myself a movie critic. Nor do I have much experience writing movie reviews, as I am trying to do here. But I know when a movie affects me, and The Wrestler affected me. I grew up on the WWF. Guys like Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, The Undertaker, Razor Ramon, Diesel. My favorite was the 1-2-3 Kid (Sean Waltman, who later came to fame as X-Pac). These guys were like heroes to me and my little brother. We had their action figures and the plastic ring to wrestle them in. We saw a handful of live events. It was a huge part of our childhood. We have since outgrown it, and I would struggle to name 5-10 current WWE wrestlers (though I believe Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker are still active). Still, the thought of any of my childhood heroes in Rourke's shoes was tough to stomach. Tougher than watching an opponent jam a fork into Rourke's forehead, or slam a staple gun repeatedly into his body.

The life of a professional wrestler is a sad, lonely existence. The Wrestler left no doubt in my mind about that. Though it doesn't come with a happy ending, The Wrestler has, for me, joined the elite of sports movies. I immediately put it up there with Hoosiers, Field of Dreams and Friday Night Lights, which are probably my top three. It's that good. So if you haven't seen it, make sure you do, especially if you were, at any point in your life, a pro wrestling fan. It will hit you. Hard.