walking into " ready to rumble " , the new film from hollywood's biggest goofball , david arquette ( " scream " , those annoying 1-800-call-att commercials ) , i figured there were two possibilities for this movie . it was going to be stupid , the previews had already given that much away . the question now , was whether it was going to be the sort of stupid which you can't help but chuckle at , or the just plain moronic kind . it turns out that the movie has a little of both . while there are a lot of faults , there are also one or two really funny scenes and a few others you can't help but find amusing no matter how low brow they might be . however , the film's biggest problem is the premise itself . how can one make a movie that pokes fun at professional wrestling when wrestling already pokes fun at itself ? gordie ( david arquette ) and sean ( scott caan ) have only one great love in their lives . this all consuming passion is professional wrestling , and specifically worship for their idol , jimmy " the king " king ( oliver platt ) . they have just obtained tickets to the latest match between the king and diamond dallas page ( page falkinburg ) . they are horrified to find that king's manager , titus sinclair ( joe pantoliano ) , has rigged the match so that king will not only lose , but will be ejected from the wrestling circuit forever . now gordie and sean have only one purpose in life : to get the king his crown back . however , they soon discover that their idol may not be all they thought he was , and professional wrestling may be * gasp * fake afterall ! when i said there are one or two really funny scenes in this movie i wasn't kidding . fortunately , there are enough mildly amusing scenes to make up for this . the interesting thing is that , the best part of this movie isn't the comedy , it's the massive wrestling match at the film's end . the problem with this is that it's a long , and at times very dull , trip to that payoff . another problem is that while the majority of the jokes may fall flat , at least the actors are trying their best to pull something out of them . however , at other times the movie seems to be trying to convey some message about wrestlers and their fans and this not only doesn't work , but seriously detracts from the rest of the film . i suppose this is because anything serious seems completely out of place in a movie this goofy . as for the actors , i've never really cared for david arquette . he may have been somewhat entertaining in the " scream " films , but i think this is because wes craven kept him tightly reined in . otherwise , he has a tendancy to overact to the point where the audience expects him to rip out of the screen and start bouncing off the walls . scott caan ( " boiler room " , " black and white " ) hasn't appeared in much till now , but he turns in a remarkably restrained performance considering his co-star . as for oliver platt ( " lake placid " ) , whom i consider one of the better comic actors working in hollywood , he is woefully miscast as a professional wrestler . the problem is , platt is not particularly tall , rather overweight , and about as vicious looking as a small dog . being surrounded by real wrestlers , like bill goldberg throughout the movie , only makes him look more ridiculous in this role . " ready to rumble " has a typical soundtrack for this type of movie . it's filled with popular alternative music , and it was certainly a welcome change from the constant rap soundtracks i've been hearing lately . brian robbins ( " varsity blues " ) doesn't exactly seem to be directing this movie . he simply seems to be allowing the actors to do whatever they feel like to try and get a laugh out of stephen brill's ( " the mighty ducks " ) rather weak script . i'm not sure if this was a good idea , but keeping david arquette under control certainly couldn't have hurt the film . " ready to rumble " runs far too long at 122 minutes , and should have been no more than 95 . i'd recommend " ready to rumble " to wrestling fans since they will most likely recognize a few familiar faces and give it three out of five stars . comments ? feel free to e-mail them to : <a href= " mailto : johnbeachem@dependentfilms . net " >johnbeachem@dependentfilms . net</a> for past reviews , movie news , and other fun stuff , visit : <a href= " http : //www . dependentfilms . net " >http : //www . dependentfilms . net</a> * * * * * - one of the greatest movies ever made , see it now . * * * * - great flick , try and catch this one . * * * - okay movie , hits and misses . * * - pretty bad , see it only if you have nothing better to do . * - one of the worst movies ever made . see it only if you enjoy pain . 
