Foxcatcher

The last time director Bennett Miller made a film based on true events he gave us the first-rate Moneyball. Obviously dramatic licence was taken for that film and Bennett applies the same approach here, but the result this time is an oddly flat film, not helped by the fact that the real life events surrounding John du Pont are arguably more “entertaining” that what is delivered here on screen. du Pont (Steve Carell) was a multimillionaire who, in the mid 1980’s, recruited Olympic gold medalist wrestling brothers Mark (Channing Tatum) and Dave Schultz (Mark Ruffalo) to help train wrestlers at his private estate (the “Foxcatcher” of the title – Basil Brush, relax). To say anymore about what happened would be a spoiler, but you’ll probably have already gathered from the moody marketing and trailer that this doesn’t end up with smiles all round. The main problem the film has is that it largely evolves around du Pont, but Miller decides to keep him as an enigma throughout and his actions are left to audience interpretation, rather than direction. For example at one point, when du Pont couldn’t appear to be happier, for no apparent reason he offers Mark cocaine – you can guess the rest, but why would du Pont sabotage his happiness in such a way? Such areas are never fully analysed. On the plus side, Carell (unrecognisable if you didn’t know it was him) gives a great performance as the ever unraveling du Pont. His casting though sums up the films muddled thinking, as Miller has been quoted as saying that he didn’t want to hire an actor who you might presuppose was capable of heinous acts – so if hiring Carell was partly behind that decision, why then cover him in prosthetics and makeup which makes him look like he’s capable of such things? In terms of the brothers, Ruffalo gives another strong turn, but Tatum reverts back to his moody ape face which doesn’t help anyone. There’s some good moments here (look for the painful scene where du Pont struggles to teach a group of his students the basics in front of his over-bearing mother), but Miller’s film is too slow and unengaging to demand further viewings. Rating: 6/10.