Movie Review : You Cannot Kill David Arquette (2020)
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It is common knowledge among pro wrestling fans that actor David Arquette once won the WCW heavyweight title and it is almost universally remembered to be one of the lowest moments of a dying promotion. I said “almost universally” because it seems that it was a great moment in David Arquette’s life. He was probably the only person to ever love the idea, but he loved it enough to return to pro wrestling once his acting career stall. I shit you not.
It was chronicled in a super weird and uneasy documentary titled You Cannot Kill David Arquette.
Filmed over a period of two years, You Cannot Kill David Arquette documents the titular character’s attempt to make it in pro wrestling “the right way” through the indie circuit, twenty years after being handed one of its most prestigious title by a bad creative writer. For two hours, Arquette gets the shit icked out of him by younger, hungrier wrestlers who despise him for ruining their childhood. It would be hilarious if a) it was fiction and b) Arquette was not the protagonist.
What was the point?
Well, You Cannot Kill David Arquette is a more complicated film than it seems. His attempt to become a “real pro wrestler” is a quest for legitimacy rooted in his perceived failure to become Robert De Niro. Twenty years ago, he didn’t care about being a side attraction because he found that legitimacy in his acting career. He was in the Scream films, Never Been Kissed and all that. But that well dried up for Arquette and he’s slowly receded into marginality.
Psychologically, you can understand where Arquette comes from. Everyone felt inconsequential at least once in their life and committing to something is a great way to find purpose and redefine yourself. But an average-sized 49 years old man committing to pro wresting is neither credible nor realistic. This is an industry full of young, gigantic and sometimes doped up men. You’re not committing to something you CAN do, you’re having a midlife crisis.
On top of that, Arquette wasn’t exactly booked for his talent. He is infamous in the industry because of his WCW title run and everyone in the business though it would be funny to see him get his ass kicked over and over again. Because of that, I really doubt the legitimacy of You Cannot Kill David Arquette. I think he used pro wrestling again in order rebrand himself in Hollywood, not unlike Joaquin Phoenix did with I’m Still Here. I didn’t buy the passion angle at all.
At least not for pro wrestling. Arquette got the living shit kicked out of him for this movie.
But is it good?
Even if David Arquette’s motivations are more obvious than he’d like, I got a perverse kick out of watching such self-destructive dedication. What You Cannot Kill David Arquette shows us about its subject and human nature in general is how unbearable the idea of being forgotten can be if everyone once knew your name. Popular culture is a bulldozer that constantly accelerates and people will throw themselves under if it means others will watch them suffer.
So, I kind of liked You Cannot Kill David Arquette. Not for the right reasons, though: I’m 38. Most of the things I’m interested in have lost their cultural relevance. So, I understand what motivated David Arquette to undergo such a brutal two years stint. Feeling like you’re just a footnote from the past is a little like consciously experiencing death. People go on with their lives without you. So I understand Arquette’s struggle. It’s a struggle to exist.
7.1/10
