FOXCATCHER (2014)
Directed by Bennett
Miller
Sony Pictures
Classics, 134 minutes, R (Language,
violence)
* * *
It opens in 1986, just after Mark (Channing Tatum) won a
gold at wrestling's world championship in Budapest in the 82 kg division. Back
home, fame such as that got you a $20 speaker's fee for high school motivation
speeches! Enter John Eleuthère du Pont (Steve Carrell), an addle-brained
billionaire living on a sprawling horse farm with his domineering mother, Jean
(Vanessa Redgrave) and harboring dreams (delusions?) of reinventing himself as
an über patriot and wrestling guru. He's willing to sink some of his
considerable resources into making the US wrestling team a symbol of national
pride and proceeds to open a state-of-the-art training facility on the manor
lands, which he dubs "Foxcatcher." Recruiting Mark to train there is
his first coup, but the big fish is Dave (Mark Ruffalo), considered the
nation's best coach. Soon Foxcatcher is the de facto Olympic training center
for wrestlers. After all, what obscure sportsman could resist the patronage of
a sugar daddy, or the lure of living on a sylvan estate?
Foxcatcher is, at
heart, about young athletes caught up in a rich sociopath's visions, whims,
coke-fueled fantasies, psychotic storms, and barely repressed homosexual
yearnings. Du Pont was that special breed of monster that only obscene wealth
can produce. As we quickly see, he is a bully, an egoist, and an idiot who
pontificates upon things about which he knows nothing–and that's especially the
case with wrestling. Even he eventually sees this–especially after Mark leaves
the facility and the US wrestling team fails to capture public attention or win
a lot of star-spangled glory. When he ultimately murders Dave Schultz, it's
because Dave's very competence, popularity, and kindness remind him of what a
waste his life has been. (John du
Pont died in prison.)
Director Bennett Miller has probed offbeat characters
before, most notably in Capote (2005)
and Moneyball (2011). The film's
greatest revelation, however, is Steve Carell's acting. Though known as a comic,
he gives Chevy Chase a run for the money in the Least Funny Comedian category.
If Foxcatcher is any indication, Carell
should shift to drama. He rightly garnered a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. His
is a nuanced performance that makes us alternatively pity and loathe du Pont.
Carell also displays a potpourri of emotions, each convincing within their
contexts. Ruffalo is solid as Dave, and gets special kudos for displaying a blue-collar
ethos that combines the right balance between being respectful, tough,
protective, prodding, and likable. Tatum is less successful as Mark. He does naivety
well, but overall is wooden and flat.
Tatum's performance is a weak link, though Foxcatcher has other flaws. Liberties
are taken with sequencing, especially in the last 20 minutes, which confusingly
elide about 7 years of time. The yes men around du Pont are largely cardboard
cutouts and there's too much testosterone on screen. Redgrave seems to have
been hired to add gravitas to the cast, as her role is little more than a
cameo. It is, however, positively robust compared to the shallow presence of
Sienna Miller as Dave's wife, Nancy, who mostly remind us what a great family
man Dave is. Miller is an enormously underrated actress, so we must give Golden
Piggy Hooves to screenwriters E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman for giving her so
little to do.
The film won a Palme
d'Or in 2014, but grossed just $15 million against a budget of $24 million.
This is odd, as Foxcatcher is an
excellent look at how an unhinged individual finally tumbles. Foxcatcher is certainly worth a rental.
You might not change your mind about wrestling, but you'll walk away with
newfound respect for Steve Carell.
Rob Weir
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