Beyond the Mat

A former Saturday Night Live scribe and co-scripter of Eddie Murphy's The Nutty Professor films, lifelong wrestling fan Barry W. Blaustein's often amateurish-looking documentary probes behind the tightly-scripted, closely-orchestrated spectacle that is professional wrestling to put a human face on the cartoonish heroes and villains who pummel each other in the ring. While matches may (may?) be fixed, the men who fight them are very human indeed, and viewers will get a close-up look at several personalities at different stages of their careers (including Mick Foley--also known as Mankind--who looks as if he's been smackdowned when he is shown footage of his traumatized children watching one of his bloody matches; the faded Jake "Jake the Snake" Roberts, who is wrestling more with his personal demons today; and Darren Drozdov, an aspiring wrestler whose claim to fame is that he can vomit on command). Wrestling is no longer a cult phenomenon or guilty pleasure. It's a billion dollar industry. Essential viewing for wrestling fans, but an eye-opening experience for the unconverted who have always wondered, in Blaustein's words, "What sort of man bashes another man's head into a ring post for a living?" Recommended. (K. Lee Benson)