Wednesday, February 1, 2023

The Jesse Ventura Story (1999)

Jesse "The Body" Ventura (wrestler, actor, politician) has a life story almost tailor made for a biopic, unfortunately this isn't it.

We see Jesse from his early years as a US Navy Seal, then breaking into pro-wrestling before injuries forced him to take on a broadcasting role. This led to him beginning a film and TV career before finally entering politics and becoming governor of Minnesota. 

A great story but unfortunately so much of the story portrayed on screen is completely wrong, especially the wrestling segments which seem to exist in some parallel universe utterly against actual wrestling history (Raven, Goldberg in wrestling supposedly set in the 1970s and 80s? Really?)

To make matters worse, the guy who plays Ventura (Nils Allen Stewart) doesn't really look or sound like him, which is always a drawback when the original is one of the most recognisable people on Earth! Quite why the makers took so many liberties is unknown, but this is really terrible. Watch the real Jesse Ventura in Predator or Abraxus instead!