Quote Originally Posted by dean_martin
haven't seen Milk, but I have no doubt Penn was great.

Have seen The Wrestler and WOW...I was very impressed with Rourke's performance. He silenced my main gripe about him from years gone by (and this is based on memory which is not always accurate) which is that he tried so hard to be cool that it was obvious. In stark contrast (to my memory), he seemed so natural in The Wrestler. He was in his own skin. One of the scenes that cracked me up and amazed me at the same time was when he was playing his old wrestling video game with one of the trailer park kids and the kid started talking about his current favorite game - Rourke truly looked and acted puzzled, completely lost. That scene was brilliantly subtle and worked hand-in-hand with that wretched and not-so-subtle 80s hair band soundtrack (which under normal circumstances would've been a huge turn off for me).
Subtlety, the best word for it. In every scene where he could've "gone hollywood" or started chewing up the scenery Rourke didn't. He backed off. His reconciliantion scene with his daughter was a masterstroke of understatement. I've not been so impressed by a characterisation in years.

Da Worfster