This film is based on a true story. Billionaire John DuPont decides he wants to be a wrestling benefactor and create a team for the Olympics. He recruits a young wrestler, then works to recruit his older brother.

DuPont is totally weird with a mommy complex. His mother makes it clear that she disapproves of every move he makes. He wants to show her how he is a great coach and mentor. Only, he is too selfish to be anything but a weird jerk with a mommy fixation. When Mommy kicks the bucket all bets are off.

The younger Schultz brother he recruits first is played by Channing Tatum. He is a bit naive and has always relied on his steady older brother, played by Mark Ruffalo.

The older brother is a coach and has commitments and is understandably reluctant to come aboard with DuPont's project until he sees his brother needs him and that the money is huge. It is enough money for him to have a secure life.

The brother (Dave Schultz played by Ruffalo) is a normal, conscientious sort and he works to straighten the little brother out and distance him from nutty DuPont, played surprisingly well by Steve Carrell.

Well, DuPont has delusions that he is the mentor/coach, not Dave. So, he kills him in cold blood. Just goes out on the estate and shoots him down one fine morning in Winter.

This is based on a true story from the late 1980's, that I didn't remember, so the killing of Ruffalo (the most likable character, by a mile) was very shocking to me.

This is a very very slow moving film. I hung in there to see what the deal was in the end. I was, frankly, hoping DuPont would be the murder victim, not the other two and definitely not Ruffalo's character.

Now, I know what happened, but it was too long and boring getting there. All the performances were good, but it needed to move along with the plot. The film dragged it out so that I fast forwarded a lot of filler. A lot.

Bad directing, I'd say.

At the end, they say that DuPont died in prison a long time after he did this. I hope that it wasn't a luxury prison but his family is made of money. Money buys a lot, but it couldn't buy Dave Schultz to not look out for his little brother.

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Created Jun 13, 2018 at 9:37am • Submit your own review...