DUMBER THAN 'DUMB' AND NOT NEARLY AS FUNNY.Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor ``Ready to Rumble'' - a film built around the world of professional wrestling Noun 1. professional wrestling - wrestling for money sport - the occupation of athletes who compete for pay rassling, wrestling, grappling - the sport of hand-to-hand struggle between unarmed contestants who try to throw each other down - is based on a simple premise: Anyone going to this ``comedy'' must be dumber than its two protagonists, Gordie and Sean. How dumb? Let's say they couldn't beat my dog in a game of tic-tac-toe. Before any pro wrestling fans call up with the intention of body-slamming me into the next county, I am not implying that aficionados of the ``sport'' are stupid. Sure, wrestling is ``scripted.'' The movie tells us that right away when Titus Sinclair (Joe Pantoliano) decides he's tired of his star, Jimmy King (Oliver Platt), and scripts him to lose a championship match without telling him. After the surprised King gets the daylights beaten out of him, he goes into hiding. Distraught, his two biggest fans - Gordie (David Arquette) and Sean (Scott Cann) - go on a quest to bring him back and help him regain his crown. Along the way, they find that nothing in King's bio is real. (They inform his parents that they are dead even as the parents stand right there before them.) Even after they find the broken-down, drunken King and he tries to get them to understand that wrestling is scripted and he's been written out, they stare at him grinning, waiting for him to be the way he was in the ring all those years. The boys' absolute blockheadedness, we take it, is supposed to drive the film's humor. Since the plot never gets much thicker than this and the boys' occupation is emptying portable toilets and driving a sanitation truck, there is plenty of time for a number of really gross jokes, none of which need to be repeated here. (Few - if any - are very funny, and one must have cost quite a few bucks for one of the lamest payoffs imaginable.) Along the way, we get a cameo from Oscar-winning actor Martin Landau lan·dau n. 1. A four-wheeled carriage with front and back passenger seats that face each other and a roof in two sections that can be lowered or detached. 2. A style of automobile with a similar roof. as Sal Bandini, an aging macho wrestler; Rose McGowan Rose Arianna McGowan (born September 51973) is an American actress best known for her role as Paige Matthews in The WB TV series Charmed and the cult-classic The Doom Generation. as Sasha, a Nitro Girl (one of those women who parade around the ring in skimpy skimp·y adj. skimp·i·er, skimp·i·est 1. Inadequate, as in size or fullness, especially through economizing or stinting: a skimpy meal. 2. Unduly thrifty; niggardly. outfits); and a host of real wrestlers. We hope they got paid well. Actually, everybody seems to throw themselves into their roles, which often is the only thing that keeps the film from being totally unwatchable. Directed by Brian Robbins Brian Robbins (born as Brian Levine, November 22 1963, Brooklyn, New York) is an American actor and producer. He often collaborates with Mike Tollin. In the 1980s, Robbins portrayed Eric Mardian on the television series Head of the Class. (``Varsity Blues'') and written by Stephen Brill Brill or Bril, Flemish painters, brothers. Mattys Brill (mä`tīs), 1550–83, went to Rome early in his career and executed frescoes for Gregory XIII in the Vatican. (``The Mighty Ducks''), ``Ready to Rumble'' looks exactly like what it is - a crass attempt to cash in on the popularity of pro wrestling. Alas, no one seemed to think that a real script might be needed. As the Farrelly brothers (``Dumb and Dumber,'' ``There's Something About Mary'') have shown recently, it takes skill to build up laughs around dumb characters - otherwise, to quote ``Forrest Gump,'' ``Stupid is as stupid does.'' THE FACTS --The film: ``Ready to Rumble'' (PG-13; language, crude humor, sexual content including brief nudity, and wrestling violence). --The stars: David Arquette, Oliver Platt, Scott Caan Scott Caan (born August 23, 1976) is an American actor. Biography Early life Caan was born in Los Angeles, California to actor James Caan and Sheila Ryan, an actress and former model. His paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Germany. , Bill Goldberg
Bill Goldberg (born William Scott Goldberg on December 27, 1966) better known by his ring name Goldberg , Rose McGowan, Diamond Dallas Page  This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling.You can assist by [ editing it] now. , Joe Pantoliano and Martin Landau. --Behind the scenes: Directed by Brian Robbins. Written by Steven Brill. Produced Bobby Newmyer and Jeffrey Silver. Released by Warner Bros BROS Brothers BROS Benefits and Retirement Operations Section (King County, Washington) BROS Barnes and Richmond Operatic Society (London, UK) . --Running time: One hour, 40 minutes. --Playing: Citywide. --Our rating: One star CAPTION(S): photo, box Photo: Oliver Platt, left, and David Arquette star in the pro-wrestling comedy ``Ready to Rumble.'' Box: THE FACTS (see text) |
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