![]() ![]() The Catcher Was a Spy generates tension without a high body count or gruesome violence. Likewise, Rudd convincingly wrestles with the question of whether Berg should kill Heisenberg or let him live (a la The Hunt for Red October). When Berg learns just enough Japanese to prank his fellow players, when he surprises people with his ability in multiple languages, or when he accepts a difficult chess challenge on the fly, it all seems natural. And he has the depth to believably convey Berg's lively intellect and inner turmoil. (More on that below.) Even though he bears no resemblance to the actual, burly Berg, Rudd looks the part of a journeyman Major Leaguer of the time. But it takes at least one liberty with Berg's life that causes concern. ![]() This thriller is very well written and acted, with Rudd perfectly cast in the lead. The rough, impersonal sex and coarse talk about human sexuality would be enough reason not to let my kids watch it, but it’s slow, has bad language, and, as it speculates a whole lot, has no real trustworthy educational value. Even if Moe’s homosexuality was a historical fact, how it made him better or worse at espionage is lost on me, and it adds nothing but speculation to a story that is supposed to draw attention to important facts about a brilliant man’s life. Virtually every conversation and interaction talks about his sexuality, including uses of the phrase, “I don’t care who you f***, as long as you do your job,” etc. It takes a long time to get into any substance about the spying, which I thought was supposed to be the plot. Why it needs to have this or anything else about sex is truly lost on me. As a result, it comes off more as a frustration-based forcing of rough sex from an impersonal position on a girl he cares nothing about. The main sex scene at the beginning is rough and seemed to be making a point that Moe was trying too hard (after a fight with another ball player) to prove he was masculine and spite multiple implications from the beginning that he was not. Anyone interested in a purely historical drama the likes of The King’s Speech or Finest Hour will have to keep looking. It has a hard time maturing past that theme to become a well-developed, historically-important drama. ![]()
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