STEVE CARELL & CHANNING TATUM WRESTLE AGAINST TYPE IN FOXCATCHER

year: 2014 rating: **

If uncomfortable silence merited how good a film is, then FOXCATCHER… based on philanthropist Jon du Pont and Olympic Wrestling Gold Medalist brothers Mark and David Schultz… would be superior to THE GODFATHER and CITIZEN KANE, combined…

But too much prolonged awkward silence, backed by a melancholy piano score, leaves a lot to be desired: especially with such an intriguing true crime origin.

In the co-lead role is Steve Carell who, with a distracting prosthetic nose and a few extra pounds, portrays Jon du Pont with such anti-social behavior it’s difficult to spot an actual human being. Much of the film is a morbid seduction between the reclusive "coach" and Channing Tatum’s Mark Schultz. Du Pont takes in the lonely wrestler for his Foxcatcher team, living on the grounds of his plush, historic estate while training for the upcoming 1988 Seoul Olympics. Besides wrestling they travel and… snort cocaine. And while polar opposites physically, the odd couple has something in common…

Poster Art

While du Pont can’t please his mother, Mark, with a perpetual chip on his shoulder, lives under the shadow of his more talented brother. And Channing Tatum proves that Carell’s not the only actor playing eerie to the hilt…

Channing Tatum

In many ways, Tatum's performance is equally bizarre and uncomfortable. With the cadence of a hunkered ape and the personality of an ice block, the mainstream superstar definitely vanishes into this unique indie role. Unfortunately, the film never provides the right amount of tension to stretch beyond dazed reactions to both coaches controlling his psyche: the millionaire and the older brother...

Enter Mark Ruffalo’s doomed David Schultz, the most interesting performer on board – finally, someone with an actual pulse! He loves his wife, plays with his children, listens to The Grateful Dead during picnics, and becomes suspicious of what the audience already knows. And yet, within the story, he remains peripheral to his brother's downward spiral, supposedly caused by du Pont's creepy mentoring...

Thus, in a film promoted as a coach obsessed with an athlete, given the tragic turnout we were obviously centered on the wrong pair.