actors stretching out

Rating: 7/10 (16 May 2015)

Based on a true story, it's 1987. Both Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) and his older more revered brother David Schultz (Mark Ruffalo) are both Olympic gold medal winners from 3 years before in L.A. Mark is struggling to make ends meet. David is offered a job to coach in Colorado. Mark is flown into the impressive estate Foxcatcher Farm where the eccentric John du Pont (Steve Carell) offers to train him with all expenses paid. He tries to get David to form a world-class team but David is settled with his wife Nancy (Sienna Miller) and kids. John du Pont is driven by the need to impress his disapproving mother Jean (Vanessa Redgrave) who views wrestling as a low sport.
This is Tatum and Carell stretching out their acting skills. Ruffalo is doing his normal good work. It's a quiet character study. The most interesting part of the movie is watching these actors inhabit these characters. However there isn't much tension in the drama. It doesn't play up the competition which a sports movie usually does. It doesn't push hard enough on the homosexual question either. The movie needs something to amp up the tension.