2014: #10

It's here! The top 10!

(confetti rains down)
(a cheer erupts)
(t-shirt cannons are fired)

Well, that was fun. Let's get to it.

#10 Foxcatcher

One of the moves that the Academy always likes to pull is to nominate an affable, lovable actor that's known for comedy and whimsy and such who then takes a dramatic turn. Bill Murray, Lost in Translation. Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls. Jamie Foxx, Ray. Dan Akroyd, Driving Miss Daisy. Robin Williams, Good Morning Vietnam, and others. Every now and then, they actually win. This year's model: Steve Carell, who won't. Not to take anything from him. He performed his ass off in a challenging role, but if it were my squad, he'd be sixth man, maybe seventh.

The question in Bennett Miller's slow, quiet, eerie film poses is this: How far should you have to go to be a champion?

Not long after taking home the wrestling gold medal in 1984, Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) is already forgotten, being mistaken for his also-a-gold-medalist brother, Dave (Mark Ruffalo), whom he also trains with. One night, while sitting in his empty, depressing apartment eating ramen noodles when gets a phone call out of the blue from the assistant of lonely millionaire John du Pont (Carell). He's invited to his Foxcatcher Farms estate in Pennsylvania, where he's being wooed to train for the 1988 Summer Olympics. He'll take care of the lodging and the food and support him financially, and the only thing he has to do is represent the US of A for team Foxcatcher. He is instructed to entice   Dave to join him, but he politely declines, citing wife and kids as reasons to stay in Wisconsin.

It isn't always clear to Mark what du Pont's motivations are, but he decides to roll with it anyhow and ends up taking the world championships in 1987 as a member of Team Foxcatcher. They become closer, sharing buried secrets, giving each other haircuts and doing lines of coke. In a different film, this might veer toward buddy comedy, but that is absolutely not the case here. They're just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl, finding kindred spirits in each other. That is, until Mark gives his team a day off and makes du Pont feel disrespected. He ups his offer to Dave and the next thing you know, he and his entire family are walking out of a helicopter on the Foxcatcher Farms grounds, shaking hands with du Pont and the rest of the team. Not Mark, though. He's less than thrilled to be replaced by his brother as John's new unhealthy obsession. Mark becomes standoffish toward both parties and begins training on his own. The rift only grows bigger in the months leading up to the '88 games and the months after, which will eventually produce tragic consequences for this bizarre triangle of bromance.

If you're familiar with the story of du Pont and Foxcatcher, than you know how the movie ends, but if you don't, I certainly won't spoil it. For a movie this low and atmospheric, it manages to move at a decent clip without sacrificing its tone. And know this: All three are very good, especially Ruffalo, whose even-keeled decency provides the heart in an otherwise cold space (if it weren't locked up months ago by JK Simmons, you might see him in the mix for a statue tomorrow). You've never seen Tatum show quite this much depth and range, and you've never seen Carell look or act anything quite like this. A week or two later, this one truly registered for me, but once it did, I couldn't shake it.

We're almost there! See you tomorrow and we'll put this thing to bed for the year, yeah?