Review of Foxcatcher (2014) by Mark I — 08 Mar 2015

Foxcatcher FAILS in almost all aspects of film. After reading and hearing about this overhyped movie since last fall and its handful of Oscar nods, I viewed it on Blu-ray this weekend. With minimal dialogue and what turned out to be inaccurate dates on screen, Foxcatcher not only gets the real story of DuPont wrong but it also does nothing to guide the viewer to an understanding of the complex characters.

As a sports movie, it also fails miserably, again with nothing explained on the mats, like who all the supporting actors are. DuPont killed the elder of the two wrestling brothers 8 years after the Seoul Olympics, but the movie makes the sudden shooting seem like an unexplained reprisal within six months after the Games.

Carrell does the best he can with his face covered in prosthetics and his DuPont character barely sketched out. Has any lead actor Oscar nominee appeared in fewer scenes and been any more of an amorphous blur? Over two hours, the film plods on and on with nothing keeping me interested.

All the filmmakers and actors are capable of so much more, so we'll see.