Some holds barred

It’s perhaps not the best sign that the most believable bits of this wrestling-themed rom-com are the scenes that take place in the ring. After all, it’s supposed to be true love and fake wrestling, not the other way around.

Still, you’ve got to hand it to Calgary filmmakers Jason Long (writer) and Robert Cuffley (writer/director) for making this strange hybrid engine turn over in the first place.

Chokeslam tells the story of Corey Swanson (Chris Marquette), a docile deli worker who still lives with his mom and has been carrying a torch for high-school sweetheart Sheena (Amanda Crew) since they graduated 10 years ago and she went off to be a pro wrestler.

Corey gets held up in the opening scene by a masked gunman named Luke (Michael Eklund), who has forgotten that in small-town Saskatchewan, everyone knows your name, especially when it’s tattooed on your knuckles. The two become unlikely buddies after Corey learns that Sheena is coming back for their high-school reunion, and Luke agrees to be his wingman for his attempt at a romantic comeback.

The shenanigans that follow are mostly lifted from the rom-com playbook, and involve overprotective friends and relations (Corey’s mom, Sheena’s sister and boyfriend/manager, and Luke in general), misunderstandings, betrayals, and (given the wrestling subplot) a fair bit of physical damage, most of it meted out to poor Corey.

Cuffley stocks his supporting cast with such real-life wrestlers as Harry Smith, Mick Foley, Chelsea Green and Lance Storm, and continues his string of strong female characters that includes the leads in Ferocious (also Crew), Walk All Over Me and Turning Paige. But there isn’t enough chemistry between Sheena and Corey, or indeed between Sheena and anyone — she looks distracted more often than not. The result is a bout in which, it would seem, some holds are barred. ∂∂1/2

Amanda Crew as Sheena in the film Chokeslam.