I can not believe this movie season. All these critically acclaimed movies, yet only "Whiplash" was a winner. Foxcatcher is just another movie in a long string of disappointments this season to get rave reviews, but massively underwhelming content.
Alright, let's get started: "based on a true story", blah blah. What movie isn't based on a true story nowadays? How about we start with "based on a true story that no one other than the Du Pont family would give two craps about? Seriously, just because something is based on a true story does not mean you should make a movie about it. I did laundry recently, so no one is making a movie about this "based on a true story."
Foxcatcher is about some jackass rich guy named John Du Pont (played by Steve Carrell) who wants to take the previous Olympic Gold medalists (Channing Tatum) and his brother (Mark Ruffalo) under his wing and train them for the Seoul Olympics in 1988. Du Pont is clearly lonely, but able to buy his way into the heart of Tatum first, then Ruffalo. Lots of foreshadowing, like when Du Pont decides to get his team's attention by shooting a gun inside the practice facility.
The problem is, this movie DRAGS. I have never seen such a slow movie, and don't forget, I just came off of seeing "Interstellar." That garbage was nearly three hours long-Foxcatcher seems like 19 hours, less the marginal digital effects. After 30 minutes, I scanned the crowd and they all had the same concerned look on their collective faces. That look was "shit, this is gonna suck and I can't leave because I will wake up other paying customers."
Yeah, the acting is great, but no one cares. I would rather see stilted acting and an interesting story than great acting and a boring, tedious story told at an even maddening snail's pace. This movie should be shot. As in firing squad, not by camera. True stories are supposed to be interesting, and the only slightly interesting thing that happens in this movie is when the lights finally come up and everyone silently shuffles out of the theater, well aware of the fact that they just witnessed a waste of time. I give this garbage a 51-barely enough to beat out the WORST movie I have seen in decades (Birdman).
