recommended

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

This movie was actually pretty funny I loved how it was all set around the wrestling business which was at its highest around the time this movie came out I love the scenes with David Arquette and the guy at the shop when it turns into a full out tag team match the movie all around had its best moments and not so good moments like the drive thru scene with Arquette messing with the girl Shawn likes it was a good scene but it didn't really go with the story and one scene that was just terrible and made you go WTF was when Ellen Albertini Dow was in a tight leather suit need I remind you she was 81 so that kind of made me go WTF but I as a wrestling fan I love the film and it also has received a cult following since it came out so if you have not seen it yet and you are a wrestling fan I suggest you see it but if your not a wrestling fan and think wrestling is stupid then I don't suggest it.

When I first started watching this movie I was expecting it to be absolutely hilarious with some great wrestling thrown in. Well there was some good wrestling scenes and a few funny lines. But while watching it I found myself replying to messages checking Facebook and going off to get drinks and food with out even bothering to pause the film. It might sound like I'm just getting ready to absolutely slate this movie, but I'm not, don't get me wrong this film wasn't great but it wasn't a painful watch either. After the two best mates watch there lifelong favourite wrestler 'Jimmy King' get the crap beaten out of him during a wrestling match, they decide to go find this 'Jimmy King' and help him get the world championship belt back. This is the main story line and like I said a few good laughs are chucked in as well, but that was basically it. Something I will say though is that for some reason I couldn't bring myself to turn it off and also that I did enjoy it. This defiantly isn't a film I would recommend but not one I would say to stay clear off either, if its on TV at one point watch it but don't go and rent it and defiantly don't go out and buy it.

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

I think Ready to Rumble is VERY underrated. The first time I saw it I was 13 or 14, now I'm 20 and this movie STILL makes me laugh. It's dumb and dumber set inside a wrestling ring. Most of the jokes and the subplots aren't really even about wrestling, so even if you don't like wrestling, it's still worth a rental. Even my friends who don't like wrestling love this movie. Sure, there's not great acting in it, but I think everyone can agree that Martin Landau's character is classic. I think it would've been a box office success if they would've put it out in 96 or 97 when WCW and wrestling in general really took off -- instead of 2000 when it was on the decline.