This just in: videogames are part of mainstream culture. Plus there's a lot of money involved. So naturally they're going to start appearing in other forms of entertainment. From time to time, I'll be posting "gamespotting" entries, to point out instances of videogames appearing in movies and television shows.

Unfortunately, my attempts at gamespotting might peak early. Call of Duty 4 makes an appearance in The Wrestler that's going to be hard to top. Most videogame appearances are poorly informed. For instance, a character in Snakes on a Plane who safely lands the titular plane then explains that he learned how to fly from 2000 hours with Playstation flight simulators.

In The Wrestler, Micky Rourke plays a formerly well-known wrestler. At one point, he invites a neighborhood kid over to play a fictitious game on the NES that featured Rourke's character. There are shots of a lovingly created mock-up of Wrestle Jam: The Ram vs. The Ayatollah. While playing, the kid brings up Call of Duty 4. The movie actually goes into a little detail about the setting and characters in the game, although the kid misidentifies the setting as Iraq and doesn't seem to know that the British special ops are the "SAS" and not the "S and S" or "SNS".

But what's so canny about this appearance is that it's exactly how a kid would talk about Call of Duty 4. Furthermore, it makes a great point in the context of the movie, contrasting a slick contemporary form of entertainment with an antiquated 8-bit NES game. It's part of the message of the movie, and certainly a parallel with how the movie presents wrestling. As far as relevance and game savvy, this is probably one of the best uses of a videogame I've ever seen in a movie. My colleague, Ben Fritz at Variety, calls it convergence, but I think it's more than that: I think it's videogaming finally being relevant.

I've transcribed the exchange below:

Adam (neighborhood kid): So you hear about Call of Duty 4?
Randy (Mickey Rourke's character): The what?
Adam: Call of Duty 4.
Randy: What?
Adam: Call of Duty 4.
Randy: Call it doody for?
Adam: Call of Duty 4.
Randy: Call of Doody 4?
Adam: It's very cool, actually.
Randy: Really?
Adam (almost under his breath): ...this game is so old.
Randy: What's it about?
Adam: It's a war game. Most all of the other Call of Dutys are like based on World War II, but this one was Iraq.
Randy: Oh yeah?
Adam: You switch off between a marine and an S and S British special operative. Very cool.