Foxcatcher Movie Review
Sony Pictures Classics
Reviewed for Shockya by Tami Smith, Guest Reviewer
Director: Bennett Miller
Screenwriter: E. Max Frye, Dan Futterman
Cast: Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Vanessa Redgrave, Sienna Miller
Release Date: November 14, 2014
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania is a place rich with “history”, dating back to the American Revolutionary war. John du Pont (Steve Carell), a man with inherited wealth of immense proportions, lived right in that location on his Foxcatcher Farm and trained wrestling athletes for the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics. Du Pont always got what he wanted so getting Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) and David Schultz (Mark Ruffalo) to come to his estate and train for the Olympics is no exception. What follows is a story taken from the tabloids that includes: the arrival of Mark to Foxcatcher, his “honeymoon” period with Mr. du Pont, the arrival of brother David, the tense relationships that develop between du Pont and Mark and his departure from the estate and David’s murder by du Pont.
In a screenplay written by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman we are made to witness the explosive dynamics of these three personalities: the powerful and controlling John du Pont, who at age fifty still had to prove himself to his elderly mother Jean Lister Austin du Pont (Vanessa Redgrave), the big brother David, a well-adjusted man, happily married with wife and two children, who always took care of his younger sibling, and little brother Mark, a twenty-seven year old man who can barely make ends meet, training most of his time and guest-lecturing in schools for small fees. Once these three characters get together on the estate it will be a matter of short time before John du Pont’s behavior starts to change, leading the story to a tragic conclusion.
Steve Carell, with his prosthetic nose portrays John du Pont as a man calm on the outside yet volcanic on the inside, while suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, gives here an Oscar worthy performance. Channing Tatum, as Mark Schultz, plays a young man, always shadowed by his brother’s success with a lot of anger and jealousy bubbling under the surface. Mark Ruffalo as David Schutz, the most happiest of the trio, features David as stable and satisfied man who ended up in the middle of the perfect storm. Vanessa Redgrave and Sienna Miller in fine performances as John’s mother and Dave’s wife respectively, were dealt the short stick here in underdeveloped roles.
Director Bennett Miller takes us on this 134-mininute rocky voyage in a skilled manner while directing many long takes of the characters speaking in real time.
Foxcather was shot in Sewickley Heights and Edgeworth Pennsylvania with Wilpen Hall serving as the du Pont estate. Other locations include: Washington, PA and Leesburg, VA.
Rated R. 134 minutes. © Tami Smith, Guest Reviewer
Story: B
Acting: A
Technical: B+
Overall B+