Foxcatcher 2014

Wish I liked this film more than I did but I found it slow and somewhat uninvolving.  Sure the story is strange and grim and the performances are all first rate even superb which was the highlight of the film for me. You can’t take your eyes off of Steve Carell who completely disappears in the role as the creepy and very disturbed John du Pont. Carell in profile with that beak of his looks like a bird of prey, and that’s pretty much what he is. There are too many holes in the narrative and just dropping Vanessa Redgrave in the film as his cold mother does not fill in the holes of his tragic selfish life.  Also fine are Channing Tatum bulked up and ape like as the younger of the two wrestling brothers, the older one played equally well by Mark Ruffalo. But it is Tatum who steals the film and our hearts as the sad and troubled Mark Schultz this is the kind of performance that wins Oscars. Directed by Bennett Miller.