Quick Take: Branded as the most hated man in wrestling after winning a highly controversial WCW World Heavyweight Championship in 2000, actor David Arquette attempts a rocky return to the sport that stalled his promising Hollywood career. 

‘Unexpected’ is the word that comes to mind when I think about You Cannot Kill David Arquette. I didn’t expect to love this film… but I loved this film. I found it totally wacky and unexpectedly touching. I was aware of David Arquette and his famous siblings fairly early on, but my knowledge of his life and career didn’t extend past the Scream movies that I watched as a teenager and his marriage to Friends star, Courtney Cox. As an adult now, I wouldn’t have imagined I would be watching a documentary about a star from my teenage years re-launching his career in professional wrestling at age 48.

You Cannot Kill David Arquette gives us no-holds-barred, all-areas access into David Arquette’s private life during his re-entry into the wrestling world. His current wife, Christina McLarty, is a producer on the film and features prominently in it. The film also features his ex-wife Courtney Cox and their daughter, Coco, as well as his sisters Patricia and Rosanna. The women in his life discuss his wrestling aspirations with a mixture of amusement and concern. Courtney seems to think the idea is nuts; Coco expresses sheer embarrassment… I too would be mortified if my Dad dressed up in bizarre costumes and got his kicks by getting beaten up. Other characters include Arquette’s cardiologist, who (surprise, surprise) is not a big fan of the wrestling plan and tells him to stay on his blood thinners. Another scene shows him in a treatment room with his psychiatrist and his wife as he is dosed with Ketamine for his depression.

At times the film feels like an exploration of the psychology of a lost soul. “I’ve been auditioning for like 10 years without actually getting a role. So that’s like 10 years of rejection. Who does that?” says Arquette. At the age of 48, he still seems to be searching for his place and purpose. Wrestling seems to give him some sense of both belonging and escapism. “It’s a sport, no matter what anyone says, but it’s just a theatrical sport. It’s like a play on steroids.” But even in wrestling, he doesn’t fit in. In one scene, sitting alone and ignored at a wrestling conference, you feel for this once Hollywood star who’s become persona non grata.

“I hate growing up,” says Arquette at one point. There is childlike nature to him that makes the film sweetly funny, even when he’s getting his face smashed in. One moment in particular – when he is sitting on a horse, dressed in what looks like a wizard’s wrestling costume, puffing on a vape pipe -Arquette’s voice over says “I’m kind of sick of being a joke, to be honest with you. If you’re part of the joke, it’s not as painful as if you are the joke.” I get the sense David Arquette is in on this one. The whole film has a wonderful sense of performance about it, even as a documentary. Performance as an actor, performance as a wrestler, a man living in an adult world of child-like make-believe.

Distributed by Super LTD, You Cannot Kill David Arquette is available on VOD this Friday, August 28th.