Olympic silver

Rating: 6/10 (8 September 2015)

This movie is based on the true events of Olympic champion wrestlers Mark and David Schultz and their odd relationship with eccentric millionaire John Du Pont. The story centers around Mark (Channing Tatum) who is first to develop a relationship with wrestling enthusiast Du Pont (Steve Carrell). Du Pont wants so badly to be the coach of the next Olympic gold medalist and takes Mark under his wing. Mark's older brother David (Mark Ruffalo) has always looked out for his younger brother and begins to worry. Du Pont convinces David to join them at his estate. Once there David realizes his brother isn't the same and has questions the validity of Du Ponts actions. After a loss in the '88 Soule Olympics things really take a turn for the worse, which tragically ends terrible for the brothers as Du Ponts grip on reality slips away. I went into this movie not knowing any of the actual story and I found myself wanting badly to step in and do something. It really is a tragic and odd story. Overall the movie is well put together and Carrell is outstanding as John Du Pont. Ruffalo and Tatum were fantastic as the brothers Schultz. They trained so much you'd think they actually wrestled in school. That being said, this one isn't for me. I can't place my finger on it but I just couldn't get into it. The story crawled along at a snails pace and the development of the characters was choppy. Happy the writers and director cut the film from the original 4 hours of tape. See it if you must but don't set valued time aside for it.