Ready to Rumble (PG-13) No Rating

Review Date: May 18th, 2000

The "Wayne's World" of Wrestling comes to the silver screen.

Story

Gordie (David Arquette) and Sean (Scott Caan) witness the most traumatic

event of their young lives -- the title-fight defeat of star wrestler

Jimmy King (Oliver Platt) at the hands of Diamond Dallas Page (Page Falkinburg) and his cronies. Arquette and Caan idolize King. His defeat inspires the two small-town sewage engineers to embark on a mission to help The King regain his lost wrestling crown. Clearly, there's not much complexity to the "Ready to Rumble" script. Big men beating on one another as well as Arquette's and Caan's occasional gross exploits keep the audience interested, but viewers won't be wringing their hands wondering if Jimmy King will come back on top.

Acting

Quelle surprise: Arquette and Caan are extremely convincing as juvenile, immature and perverse young men. While Platt has a few funny moments, his comedic performance pales in comparison and his wrestling persona is weak next to real-life wrestlers "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Bill Goldberg. The real ringmaster is Martin Landau, who gives a hilarious performance as the not-dead-yet wrestling coach.

Direction

It's a wrestling movie. The direction is good enough.

Bottom Line

If you like big men in tights, you'll like this movie.