Bodyslam: Revenge of the Banana

Presented by Morgan Spurlock, filmmakers Ryan Harvie and John Paul Horstmann's Bodyslam centers on the Seattle Semi-Pro (SSP) wrestling league, which trains amateurs to perform—in a community theater-like club setting—all of the exaggerated flips, falls, and mock violence that the big boys and girls do on national television. If there is any fun to this, it's in the bizarre costumes and personas—such as mad clown Ronald McFondle (real name Josh Black)—that the wrestlers don before small but enthusiastic crowds. Much of the documentary focuses on the sense of family and community that SSP gives to members, who largely seem to be misfits in search of a secondary identity. Viewers witness a few in their day jobs or riding bikes or doing home chores, ordinary activities that stand in sharp contrast to their work with the SSP. A heightened drama begins about halfway through Bodyslam when a rogue SSP wrestler called the Banana (Paul Richards) becomes disgruntled and lodges a complaint with Washington state's sports licensing board. The result is a lot of legal problems for the SSP, including an absurd scene in which a stone-faced cop watches a wrestling match and takes notes. Unfortunately, while the wrestling action is suitably visceral, both the oddball subject and the participants themselves are not particularly captivating. Optional. (T. Keogh)