Foxcatcher

Grade: B

I’ll tell you a little secret about the way I review films: periodically, I get undecided between two different ratings. I’ve been doing this long enough to have a “feeling” for every grade, but about 10% of the time, I have to waffle back and forth. I try to be a nice guy and award the higher grade, and I usually do, but I need to find an excuse to give it that little push. I look for a passing reference to something – anything I enjoy. Maybe a character eats soup in one scene, or talks about a topic that interests me. In the case of Foxcatcher, what elevates it are the two Oscar nominated performances from Steve Carell and Mark Ruffalo. There is little Carell has done before that will prepare you for what he does here. He has lost his metaphorical virginity and left the figurative office to show us, as we got a taste of in Little Miss Sunshine, that he has dramatic chops. Aged, greying, and appearing ready to star in a Paul Simon biopic, he is warm, welcoming, funny, charming, awkward, and downright creepy. Ruffalo, one of my favorite supporting actors, does electrifying work here. His last scene is difficult to watch. Raising the grade as well is the use of a gorgeous instrumental version of Bob Dylan’s “The Times, They Are a-Changin’” – which has made me fall back in love with the song. I love its malleability, in all the different ways it can be interpreted. All said and done, Foxcatcher had an uphill battle with me from the start. It is a bit lengthy and plodding. It is about wrestling, which doesn’t excite me, and it is one of those “based on a true story” movies with, you guessed it, captions at the end that give us a rundown of what happens to everybody. But isn’t it fun to discover a few flashes of brilliance in unexpected places?

Grade: B