Bennett Miller has certainly put a weird spin on the sports movie. Miller is the director of Moneyball, where the hero of the story is not a player overcoming great odds but a sports executive usually relegated to the bad guy role. Foxcatcher, like Moneyball, starts out like other sports films, with a wrestler trying to make a name for himself. Then Foxcatcher twists the American Dream into an American Nightmare, using 3 great performances from some unlikely sources to tell its real life tale.
Mark (Channing Tatum) and Dave (Mark Ruffalo) Schultz are two Gold Medal Winning Olympic Wrestlers from the 1984 games. The two love each other, but Mark clearly exists in his older brother’s shadow. Seeking to make a name for himself, Mark agrees to wrestle at Foxcatcher farm under the employ and “guidance” from John du Pont (Steve Carell), who is seeking to separate himself from his mother’s (Vanessa Redgrave) accomplishments. Mark and John’s relationship starts out all right, but slowly becomes toxic to both parties. The two then reach out to Dave and US Wrestling to help the Foxcatcher team, but Dave sniffs out Mark’s suffering and tries to keep his brother away from John, which the paranoid benefactor does not take well.
Atmosphere goes a long way in Foxcatcher. The first scene of the movie is Mark giving a speech to little kids trying to come off patriotic, and it is poorly paced and genuinely uninspiring. These scenes early on establish how Dave is the grounded normal one and Mark doesn’t connect well enough with his peers. John du Pont is even worse. Once he enters the picture with cold, stoic speeches, unease and detachment permeate the movie. du Pont gives the presence of a man who uses his money to make himself feel more important than he actually is, and at one point is genuinely shocked when someone turns down money for the benefit of his family’s comfort. It is clear from Foxcatcher that du Pont has an unhealthy fixation on his mother, which adds an unhinged quality to all of du Pont’s actions. Dave’s role is necessary as he is playing a real normal person; watching du Pont and Mark talk to Dave drags both of them back to reality, benefiting Mark but terrifying John. Yes, many scenes drag on too long and the focus on wrestling is there to pad the running time, but the unnaturally long scenes add to the disconnect and dread building to Foxcatcher’s climax.
Foxcatcher’s story takes second fiddle to the Oscar worthy acting from its 3 leads. Each lead gets one great moment at least. Channing Tatum haters will find less and less material going forward. Tatum gives Mark Schultz the complex dynamic of loving his brother but wanting to escape his shadow, making it easy for us to see how he could fall under du Pont’s spell. Tatum nails the big moment of his emotional breakdown from a wrestling setback. Mark Ruffalo has the least showy role but the most complex performance as Mark’s brother Dave. Ruffalo makes you believe in Dave as a motivator and great guy, setting the table for the conflict with John du Pont. Ruffalo’s best moment comes when he has to describe his working relationship with du Pont. Steve Carell will get most of the accolades playing against type as distant creep du Pont. Carell’s performance carries Foxcatcher through the slow moments, making the audience contemplate what must be going on in that guy’s head. Carell has a couple big moments, one after a big victory and one where he has to show off his wrestling to his mother, that are highlights of the film.
Foxcatcher is Grade A Oscar bait. The leads are great playing against type, and the director has been involved in Oscar nominated films. John du Pont is such a compelling character; I would love a documentary on the full story of what happened with that guy. I also learned that big noses are not to be trusted.