Vision Quest

This isn't a movie about wrestling, it's a movie about a young 18-year-old wrestler trying to find his place in the world.

Louden Swayne (Matthew Modine) decides last minute to switch weight classes in order to be able to take on the best wrestler in the state, but his half-American Indian friend tells Louden that he's on a vision quest, trying to find his purpose in life, to "find the answers", even if he doesn't know the questions. The vision quest theme is not flushed out that well, but it's certainly a better title than "Crazy For You", which makes this movie seem like nothing more than a sappy romance flick.

His path crosses with Carla, a struggling artist (Linda Fiorentino) who gets stranded in Spokane, WA due to her lemon car; she ends up staying with Lauden and his father. Fiorentino gets all the good lines in this script, with Modine stuck playing the naive, hormonal teenager his character is for most of the movie.

Their relationship begins as a fraternal one -- she even declares him a "stepbrother" at one point, to his eternal dismay; he's already fallen in love with her.

At his job filling room service orders at a hotel, Lauden becomes good friends with the short-order cook, Elmo (J.C. Quinn), and the two have unusual conversations which serve to fill in Lauden's character without being too boring or overtly expositional.

Surprisingly good acting from Fiorentino and Quinn (especially during his Pele speech near the end), some snappy dialogue and a quick cameo from Madonna all lead to a movie that is easy to watch, with characters easy to like and to care about. Just remember -- no matter what anyone else says, it's not a wrestling movie.