I am pretty sure that this movie is supposed to come off as creepy, but
it really surpasses one's expectations in that arena. The story is based on yet another true life sports story. The details may be lacking in veracity, but the basics are. John Dupont (aptly played by Steve Carell) is the eccentric multimillionaire who had a passion for wrestling and some grandiose ideas about what his money could buy. Mark and Dave Schultz were two brothers who won Olympic gold in Los Angeles in 1984 and are training for Seoul in 1988. Dupont lured Mark to his training center on the rural Main Line near Valley Forge. He invokes a lot of verbiage about love of country and patriotism, but to the audience thye sound like hollow platitudes rather than inspirational speech.
The end result of Schultz' experience on the Dupont estate is the murder of his brother, his own descent into anger for reasons that are quite justified, and Dupont's arrest. It is a painful movie to watch, with Channing Tatum doing an excellent job of portraying a moody wrestler and Mark Ruffalo being equally good as his brother. Very sad, but well done.
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