FOXCATCHER

Foxcatcher

Grade: A-

Starring: Channing Tatum, Steve Carell, and Mark Ruffalo; with Sienna Miller as Nancy and Vanessa Redgrave as Mrs. DuPont

Premise: Based on the real-life relationship between Olympic Champion wrestler Mark Schultz and eccentric billionaire John DuPont, who had dreams of coaching and funding the U.S. Olympic wrestling team but also had a dark side.

Rated R for language, some violence, disturbing images, drug use, and some intense emotional content

Foxcatcher is one of most emotionally-grueling movies you'll ever see about a love triangle, and it's about three men. They aren’t romantically involved with one another, but it's impossible to watch this movie and not see the parallels to romantic relationships, as the intertwined bonds here all center around the ideas of commitment, loyalty, pleasure, faithfulness, selfishness, and caring. It’s impossible to see the cold shoulders, lingering stares, and quiet frustration in a way that doesn’t compare to a romantic scenario. And the question “Do you have a problem with me?” has scarcely ever been used in so unnerving a way as it is here.

Based on a dark, sad true story, Foxcatcher is a movie that has been waiting in the wings to come out for at least a year. It’s one of those very quiet, understated movies—some might say frustratingly so—but it was worth the wait, featuring three strong performances that serve as indelible, relatable psychological portraits and deserve awards recognition. Directed by Bennett Miller, director of the Oscar-nominated films Capote and Moneyball, it’s a gripping, suspenseful, thought-provoking movie. 

Plot

Not long removed from winning an Olympic Gold medal in the ’84 Games in Los Angeles, competitive wrestler Mark Schultz (an excellent Channing Tatum) is limping through life. Though he gets the occasional promotional speaking engagement, his life is mostly about training and eating, training and eating, to stay in shape for ’88 Games in Seoul. His life is also unavoidably linked to that of his older brother Dave (Mark Ruffalo, wonderful), who basically raised Mark after their parents split when they were young and has also won Olympic Gold. Unlike the sullen, withdrawn Mark, Dave is a light-hearted, compassionate man with a pretty wife and two young kids, and he hasn’t given up the habit of looking after his younger brother. But what Dave can’t quite grasp is—Mark is looking for a purpose.

A purpose is seemingly handed to him out of nowhere when billionaire John DuPont (Steve Carell) summons Mark to his Pennsylvania estate and then reveals his grand plans of training a wrestling team and even, one day, leading a wrestling team to Olympic glory. His elderly mother (Vanessa Redgrave) considers wrestling a “low” sport, but DuPont, who’s quiet, halting, awkward manner doesn’t endear many to him, has the money to shell out to get what he wants. What he wants is for Mark to be the centerpiece of a medal-winning wrestling team—Team Foxcatcher, named after DuPont’s estate. Dave is immediately suspicious of the out-of-nowhere offer that comes with a cozy house on the estate, a state-of-the-art training facility, and access to DuPont’s thousands, but Mark takes to it like an eager puppy. It isn’t long before Mark and DuPont are close, celebrating Mark’s Gold at the Wresting World Championships and bird-watching and working out together. But when DuPont pays Dave top dollar for him and his family to come live on the estate and for Dave to be an assistant coach of Foxcatcher, Mark feels blindsided and betrayed. Dave didn’t want to accept the offer in order to keep his family grounded, but, when he arrives, he finds more than the wrestling team and the fancy estate. He finds his brother a slovenly wreck, having been introduced by DuPont to cocaine and booze, and been used almost like a pet by the selfish billionaire. As Team Foxcatcher begins preparing for the 1988 Olympic Trials, Dave and DuPont become engaged in a war of wills over who is Mark’s true best friend and best teacher.

What Works?

The movie was masterfully filmed and edited, with many individual images speaking many more words than the often minimal dialogue ever could. But what Works, above all, are the men behind its three protagonists, all of whom have rarely been this effective onscreen before.

The performance most buzzed-about in the lead-up to the film’s release has undoubtedly been that of Steve Carell, the beloved comedian who takes a sharp 180 here to play the simplistic, quietly-unnerving DuPont. Given the amount of buzz the actor has received for (as it’s been called) a “career-changing performance”—he’s gotten a Best Actor Golden Globe nomination, among other accolades—it’s difficult to come in not knowing it is Carell under prosthetics, but, as the character gets more screen-time, it’s soon easier to see past the actor and into the real-life figure he’s portraying. A child of privilege (the DuPont family’s fortune came from chemicals and weapon-manufacturing) who grew up needing nothing material, John was left a lonely man with a big name and high status, but nothing to show for it. DuPont obviously felt the expectation to be great and looked for a way to do it, settling on the sport of wrestling. It’s easy to see why his speeches about making America great and honoring one’s country with athletic performance worked like a magic trick on the purpose-seeking Mark; it’s also easy to see why, when his team’s performance started to slip and looked like it might not lead him to his almighty goals, DuPont went quietly insane. Carell’s performance—his awkward bearing, his halting speech, and his unpredictable manner—is impressive, and best summed up in his brilliant reaction to Mark’s claim that DuPont “can’t buy” Dave’s services (several seconds of complete silence and stillness followed by an uncomprehending “huh”).

DuPont is largely a background figure in the film, though, as the movie belongs to the actors playing the Schultz brothers—the gentle-giant Tatum dominates the first half with his workmanlike attitude and puppy-dog desire, and Ruffalo, as the grounded, genteel, and increasingly-wary Dave, dominates the second half. For my money, it’s the best performance Tatum has given by far, with the actor’s notable bulk easily allowing him to portray a character who seems all muscle and almost no personality. All Mark does is train and eat. He’s a simple guy who can be easily manipulated (by DuPont) without realizing it, but can also accomplish incredible feats when properly cared-for and nurtured (by Dave). Tatum largely lets his sad eyes and face do the talking, but he explodes in a wrenching scene of self-mutilation following a poor outing in the ring. The character is crushingly-sad, especially when you know how much Mark has been taken advantage of and molded for others’ purposes. The reliably-great Ruffalo has the least screen-time but by far the most likeable and relatable character; Dave is a great guy who suffers much worse than he deserves as he tries to be everybody’s friend and yet tries to take a stand when he realizes his fragile younger brother is collapsing under the weight of DuPont’s expectations.

Carell and Ruffalo have both been in the Oscar conversation for months (the former for Best Actor, the latter for Supporting Actor). While I acknowledge and appreciate the sentiment (especially for Ruffalo), I believe Tatum deserves as much credit for his quietly-devastating portrayal.

What Doesn’t Work?

Foxcatcher hit me almost immediately as one of those movies that was really good, but could have been even better with a bit more dialogue to liven things up. As I said before, its many images and the actors’ performances (verbal and nonverbal) make the film work, but the movie is more understated than it needs to be. This slow manner makes its two-hours-and-ten-minutes pass slowly; even so, I wouldn’t have minded seeing a few more concluding scenes, particularly scenes of Mark dealing with a personal tragedy. But this is ultimately a very effective movie.

Content

Foxcatcher is dark. Its themes and story, alone, probably earned it the R-rating, but it does have a few cuss words, a few scenes of drug use, and some tough scenes of Mark coping with nerves and pressure before and after important wrestling bouts (including making himself throw up to shed pounds bleeding from the head after smashing a mirror in disgust).

Bottom Line

Ahh, how I’ve been waiting to see it… Foxcatcher could have livened things up a bit with a little more dialogue, and could have been more emotionally weighty with a longer ending, but these are small complaints. It’s a fascinating character study, with award-worthy performances by Steve Carell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo as they portray three men with very different psychological make-ups and motivations. The way these characters come together, fall apart, team up, betray each other, clash, and hurtle toward a terrible climax is fascinating and worth checking out. Based on a true story.

Foxcatcher (2014)

Directed by Bennett Miller
Screenplay by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman
Rated R
Length: 134 minutes