The Main Event

A kid who's a fan of the wrestling tournament culture feels like an outcast with the constant bullying in school. Meanwhile he lives a steady relationship at home, despite the absence of his mother. His mechanic father struggles to spend more time with him, and his Instagram icon-in-the-making grandmother does everything possible to discipline him. In one of his attempts to escape his school's opponents, he finds an old magical mask giving him super wrestling power which leads him to the covet professional tournament filled with evil competitor, specially a monster-like giant and his ambitiously greed agent. A refreshing and funny family comedy about finding your voice and strength, the film is highly recommended for all ages. At times silly but tender and efficient, it also looks at innocence and friendship values through the kid's interaction with his two best friends and his crush. Finally a decent production made for laughter without any buttocks jokes or other similarities. Fast paced, well conceived and convincingly performed, it's a feel good family gem.

It's essentially the same plot as better movies like Rookie of the Year or Like Mike but with half the budget and way more reliance on brand recognition. There's some heart in the film and a few decent jokes. If watching with kids you could do a lot worse. Just don't expect an enduring family tradition to begin.

This was the last, and debatably worst, project I was in as a background actor. For 4 days, I filmed the climax cringing and shaking my head at every bit of this brutal sequence I was participating in. The filmmakers know their main audience is kids who are WWE fans, and if they fall for lame WWE narratives they can get away with an excruciatingly lazy story and forced conflict that does these actors no service. The obvious wire work on all the fighting was cheap and sucked too. Are we really this easy to please with a slapdash feature length WWE advertisement when we're 10 years old?

Amongst it all, I can safely say the hip, grandma character is the worst goddamn thing you'll have to sit through. "you just got Grandma'd" will go down as the single worst piece of dialogue of 2020. Thank you Ken Marino for giving us just one funny character amidst the cringe.

Anyways, don't watch this. Maybe this quarantine shutting down all film productions is exactly what this industry needs to get its head on straight.

"The Main Event" is almost a family film that folds in the whimsical view of professional wrestling for its charm from a kid's adventure. Seth Carr will star as the young Leo, who discovers a magical wrestling mask with extremely comical and heartfelt situations. With all its vibrant energy and color by its cast, including real WWE stars, it will be an entertaining movie for younger viewers. However, the storyline is pretty predictable and, at times, overly simplistic, lacking the depth and nuance that might appeal to an older audience. For some viewers, the clichés and rather hurried development of characters may make the film a bit of a letdown. Against all of this, "The Main Event" does manage to bring out an enjoyable and feel-good time for the targeted audience.

Yes it's corny --- no the acting isn't great, but its entertaining. The movie is directed towards young kids -- silly fun and family value messages. The movie lacks depth but many kids' movies do. The WWE theme adds to the fun.