One of the many reasons this is one of my most loved movies ever is its shocking, gritty, emphasis on gritty, take on a wrestler's pro-famous life. It sounded like he was a Hulk Hogan-type figure in the day. The movie features a dull color pallet, reflecting on the Ram's washed out lifestyle. It's depressing, sure, but it's a haunting portrait of someone who just can't seem to glue their pieces of their life back together.
Violence and drug use wouldn't really be bad for teens, the kicker is the strong sexual content. It is fairly graphic. The language is also very strong. This could be seen by older teens, but I'm not sure how much they'd enjoy it.
You need to know that "The Wrestler" is made by Darren Aronofsky, who usually makes arty, disturbing psychological thrillers like "Black Swan" or his masterpiece "Pi". This movie, however, is different. It is a drama about a wrestler who is forced to give up his job because of having a bad heart. Now he tries to continue living, get back in touch with his daughter and find another job. Micky Rourke gives a great performance as former wrestler Randly. The script is very well written and the cinematography makes this movie feel real. The scenes of wrestling give a graphic look into this sport and the movie is very moving and touching. Plus the excellent directing skills of Darren Aronofsky. It is very good. You should know that this movie is not disturbing, rather talky, emotional and calm, but also has its violent moments. The violence is very infrequent, but also very bloody and brutal: -During a wrestling scene near the beginning, we see the wrestlers all covered in blood and gore, one of them has a large cut across his forehead. -The second fight is very grizzly and gory: The wrestlers use staples to harm themselves and the other one. Then one of them takes a fork and violently but carefully sticks it into the other one's head (very bloody, but note that this is a wrestling movie, the scenes are not disturbing or sadistic). Then heavy objects are used to beat each other, resulting in much visible blood. This scene is very brutal and gory, but then a long time without any violence is present. -Then a character cuts his finger at a razor, resulting in much blood (but it is pretty much what would pass at PG-13). -The last wrestling fight is without any blood. Most of the movie, however, is very calm and nothing compared to other Aronofsky movies. There is typical R-profanity. Some scenes take place in a strip bar. Nothing explicit is shown. A brief scene of sex, no genitalia is shown. Right before this brief scene we briefly see the wrestler do drugs, but however, the wrestler is depicted as not very admireable and as a loser, so it is rather unlikely children will see a role model in him. The violence in this movie is very strong, but also very VERY infrequent, most of it happens at the beginning, and after the second fight the violence gets PG-13. It is very unlikely viewers 14 and up will have problems with the movie, and don't worry because it is an Aronofsky flick, it is a very untypical movie for him.
