Kurt Loder Reviews Foxcatcher
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The three star performances at the heart of Foxcatcher — by Steve Carell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo — have already stirred much Oscar talk, and understandably so. They're remarkable in very different ways. It's too bad that the true-crime story in which these performances are set has been contorted to teach a sociopolitical lesson that is both trite and unpersuasive, as if the bizarre real-life facts of the case were too naturally engrossing — too lowbrow — and required a sheen of moral instruction in order to justify the filmmakers' more discerning interest, writes Kurt Loder.