Movie Review: “Foxcatcher” is more than a True Crime Story

When I saw “Foxcatcher,” I was unaware that it was being marketed as a true crime story. Before it was half over, however, I guessed that something extreme was going to happen. Otherwise, this apparently aimless tale of a billionaire’s sponsorship of an Olympic wrestler would never have secured funding. Even though I had a pretty good idea of what sort of crime would bring the movie to its startling conclusion, the twist caught me off-guard.

John du Pont (Steve Carell) is a withered mama’s boy who pays amateur wrestlers to live on his estate and work out in his gym if they accept him as coach, mentor, and father figure.  He latches onto champion wrestler Dave Schultz (Channing Tatum), using  him to give his gym the  legitimacy needed to lure some of the nation’s top athletes into joining his cult. Tensions rise between Schultz and du Pont, which are…