Cinema: Beyond The Mat

Pro wrestling is a business; it's an art; it's a pain. "The more you hurt each other," says veteran Terry Funk, "the more money you make." Funk is one of the stars of this straightforward documentary about a multibillion-dollar, sado-spectacular "sport." Blaustein, co-writer of Eddie Murphy's Coming to America and The Nutty Professor, puts no comic spin on his love of wrestling, but he does get his beefy athlete-artistes to reveal themselves as dedicated, complicated, twisted souls--like any other actors. They know that their punishment is our pleasure.

--By Richard Corliss