unbelievably awful

Rating: 2/10 (27 November 2015)

I have a book called "Flesh and Fantasy" which explains how to win or be nominated for an Oscar. One way is a false nose.
Steve Carrell (with a false nose) stars as John Dupont in "Foxcatcher" from 2014, also starring Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo.
"Foxcatcher" is the story of two brothers, 1984 Olympic Gold medalist in Wrestling, Mark Schultz (Tatum) and his brother Dave. Mark is invited by the fabulously wealthy John Dupont to train at Foxcatcher Farms and form a team, with the goal of winning the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. Schultz agrees and is excited for a chance to do something on his own, away from his well-known brother Dave (Ruffalo).
Dupont feels that he does not have the respect of his mother (Vanessa Redgrave) and wants the wrestling team to help him gain not only her respect but to boost his ego. Mark becomes increasingly more dependent on his approval.
However, all that glitters -- Mark finds himself involved in things that could wreck his training, both physical and psychological. Dupont then has Dave come in as a trainer. The end of the story is tragedy.
Well, the whole thing was a tragedy. It was so dull, it was practically done as a documentary - and not a particularly interesting one, I might add. The pacing was sleep-inducing.
I blame the director for absolutely everything that went wrong. Steve Carrell probably studied DuPont and gave an accurate portrayal. Given Dupont's psychological problems and lack of self-esteem, Carrell's flat affect, both in his lack of expression and flatlined voice, were correct.
The only problem with that is, it's hard to recognize how deeply disturbed he was when everyone around him is acting the same way. Channing Tatum spent the whole film looking like a dumb jock and muttering. The homoerotic part of their relationship is shown, but since Tatum acted no differently than he did in the beginning, it's hard to say if it bothered him or not. He does, however, frost his hair.
Mark Ruffalo does the best he can.
Obviously from the reviews, people read into it a lot more than was there, and that's good. If everyone had the same opinion, it would be a pretty dull world - almost as dull as this movie.