A former wrestler and his family make a living performing at small venues around the country while his kids dream of joining World Wrestling Entertainment.
Former wrestler Ricky and his wife Julia make a living performing with their children Saraya and Zak. When brother and sister get the chance to audition for WWE, they learn that becoming a WWE Superstar demands more than they ever imagined possible.
While incarcerated during the time the film takes place, Roy Knight makes an appearance in archive footage as well as an extra "cage match wrestler". See more »
Goofs
Paige is seen as a young girl holding a homemade cardboard version of the WWE Divas title, however this title wasn't introduced until 2008, by which time Paige was 16. See more »
Quotes
[Zak and Raya stop at a park bench after jogging. Zak then starts doing reverse push-ups on the bench while Raya sits down]
Zak Knight:
My name's Zak Zodiac. When I was three years old, I could name every WWE wrestler just by looking at his boots. Zak Zodiac. Every wrestler just by looking at his boots. When I was three years old, I could name...
[Zak notices the concerned look on Raya's face]
Zak Knight:
You all right?
[Raya nods. Zak sits down]
Zak Knight:
All right, what's wrong? I know when you're lying.
Raya Knight:
This is our shot, Zak.
Zak Knight:
I ...
[...] See more »
Crazy Credits
The scenes over the end credits come from the 2012 UK Channel 4 documentary 'The Wrestlers: Fighting With My Family'. This is supposedly the documentary The Rock saw that got him interested in producing a film about Paige's story. See more »
Alternate Versions
In order to obtain a PG-13 rating in the US, some swearing was edited out of the film. The Blu-ray included an R-rated 'director's cut' which restores the edits. See more »
Takin' Care of Business
Written by Randy Bachman
Performed by Thunderpussy
Courtesy of Republic Records
Under licence from Universal Music Operations Ltd. See more »
Had to double take on the director and writer and make sure if it was THE Stephen Merchant writing and directing this film and it turned out it was so that was interesting. I used to be a super huge WWE fan from 1999-2011. By super huge I mean, I used to watch every show religiously and know everything about each athlete. I'm familiar with Paige through sporadic watching here and there and seeing her on Total Divas and am certainly not a fan of her or how she carries herself but this film was a fairly fun albeit cliched film.
The film tells the story of Saraya "Paige" Bevis and her background. Her family are all wrestling crazed and put on wrestling shows and train others in Norwich. Paige and her brother get called up for a WWE tryout but only Paige makes the cut. Paige's brother is devastated and Paige must deal with the drastic change in her life and the hard road to living out her dream.
Florence Pugh is already an established talent in my eyes because of her performance in Lady Macbeth. She's really fantastic in this, and disappears into the role of a WWE hopeful. The writing of Merchant and the care with which he gives to the comedy, the drama, and the heart involved in developing the characters is great. Its crazy to think that Merchant did not know a thing about wrestling before taking on the project. Side note: Merchant was in attendance at my screening for a Q and A and gave good insight into the project.
The film can't help feeling cliched. Training montage, sibling rivalry leading to a profound confrontation that resolves the issue, and the underdog overcoming the odds. I find it weird that real life Paige was just given the WWE Divas championship on her WWE debut but whatever. Overall, the film maintains a good balance of comedy and drama and you don't need to know anything about WWE or sports entertainment to enjoy the film. Merchant does a good job.
7/10
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Had to double take on the director and writer and make sure if it was THE Stephen Merchant writing and directing this film and it turned out it was so that was interesting. I used to be a super huge WWE fan from 1999-2011. By super huge I mean, I used to watch every show religiously and know everything about each athlete. I'm familiar with Paige through sporadic watching here and there and seeing her on Total Divas and am certainly not a fan of her or how she carries herself but this film was a fairly fun albeit cliched film.
The film tells the story of Saraya "Paige" Bevis and her background. Her family are all wrestling crazed and put on wrestling shows and train others in Norwich. Paige and her brother get called up for a WWE tryout but only Paige makes the cut. Paige's brother is devastated and Paige must deal with the drastic change in her life and the hard road to living out her dream.
Florence Pugh is already an established talent in my eyes because of her performance in Lady Macbeth. She's really fantastic in this, and disappears into the role of a WWE hopeful. The writing of Merchant and the care with which he gives to the comedy, the drama, and the heart involved in developing the characters is great. Its crazy to think that Merchant did not know a thing about wrestling before taking on the project. Side note: Merchant was in attendance at my screening for a Q and A and gave good insight into the project.
The film can't help feeling cliched. Training montage, sibling rivalry leading to a profound confrontation that resolves the issue, and the underdog overcoming the odds. I find it weird that real life Paige was just given the WWE Divas championship on her WWE debut but whatever. Overall, the film maintains a good balance of comedy and drama and you don't need to know anything about WWE or sports entertainment to enjoy the film. Merchant does a good job.
7/10