January 5, 2015 -- This film is based on a true story, bizarre, but true. Not every true story, even strange ones like this, are compelling however. This story about world class wrestlers working for a crazy rich dude with a gun is interesting, but not really compelling because the characters hide their emotions too well.

I had read about the true story when it hit the news. John Eleuthère du Pont, a multimillionaire, and heir to the vast Dupont fortune, shot and killed a wrestler on January 26, 1996 at Foxcatcher Farms, a training facility he built on his estate in Pennsylvania. Dupont was a philanthropist who took an interest in wrestling and was a sponsor of USA Wrestling. He invited wrestlers to his Foxcatcher training facility to live and practice on the estate grounds. He also provided financial support for the wrestlers.

In the film, the story opens in the 1990s with championship wrestler Mark Schultz (played by Channing Tatum of “22 Jump Street”). Schultz is an emotionally subdued man who seems to have a lot of anger simmering just under the surface. He seems to be a bit mentally slow, but it turns out he has his wits about him. He just doesn't express his emotions openly and doesn't talk any more than he needs to.

Mark reveals a bit more of himself during a wrestling practice with his older brother, David Schultz (played by Mark Ruffalo of “Begin Again”). Both Dave and Mark are great wrestlers. According to Wikipedia, the two won more NCAA, U.S. Open, World, and Olympic titles than any other brothers ever did. Both are in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Of the two brothers, David seems to be the more well-adjusted of the two, with a family and a career as a wrestling coach. Mark seems to be more withdrawn and unhappy with his life, and he works at a job which doesn't utilize his skills. He seems to live in the shadow of his brother.

Mark is approached by du Pont (played by Steve Carell of “The Way Way Back”) who offers to pay him a good salary, provide him with housing and training facilities at Foxcatcher (formerly a fox hunting facility). Mark eagerly signs up, seeing this as a chance to develop on his own, apart from his brother. However, it becomes clear that du Pont wants Mark to recruit his brother Dave to train at Foxcatcher as well.

Mark tries to recruit Dave, but Dave refuses. Eventually, Mark tells du Pont “you can't buy him,” referring to his brother. This turns out to be wrong, however. John du Pont does persuade Dave Schultz to train and coach at Foxcatcher. The relationship between du Pont and the Schultz brothers is a strange one. Mark is a friend to du Pont, until du Pont turns on him and gets Mark hooked on cocaine. Mark finally realizes this relationship is toxic and that he must leave Foxcatcher.

While most of the story unfolds fairly smoothly, the end of the story is like an airplane that runs out of gas, sputters and crashes abruptly. We see that du Pont has issues with his mother (played by Vanessa Redgrave of “The Butler”) who considers wrestling to be a “low” sport. We see that du Pont has a drinking problem and is using cocaine, and that he has an inferiority complex and is upset by his mother's death, but why he commits murder is a mystery.

Mark Schultz is so subdued in the film most of the time (except for one memorable emotional outburst) that he doesn't exhibit much much a character arc. Dave is the most normal of the main characters, but there isn't much of an arc to his character, either. At times, it seems like every main character in this movie is on Quaaludes. The acting by the three main character is quite good under these circumstances, however.

In the end, when you strip away the celebrity status of those involved, this is just another story about a crazy guy with a gun who murders an innocent person. Nobody knows why John du Pont did this. It just happens. The story is structured in such a way as to not cause the audience to be emotionally invested in any of the characters involved in this murder. It just a thing that happens. Clearly this is more than just a simple murder, but the movie doesn't really go beyond the basic facts.

This murder did not occur in a vacuum. It bears some resemblance to the assassination attempt on President Reagan by John W. Hinckley, Jr. Increasingly, this nation is being run by people like John du Pont and Hinckley, who did not earn their wealth, but inherited it, and some of these people may be envious of those those who achieved success on their own, or may even resent their success. This is an idea the movie could have explored, but did not. The whole movie seems to be a project that could have been more, but it is not. This film rates a C+.

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