Review: The Catcher Was a Spy

Paul Rudd stars as real-life 1930s baseball player Moe Berg, a Jewish-American who also doubled as a spy for the Office of Strategic Services. They’ve tasked him with finding out if theoretical scientist Werner Heisenberg (Mark Strong) is secretly working on an atomic bomb project for the Nazis. Guy Pearce plays chief of foreign intelligence Robert Furman, Jeff Daniels is the OSS chief, Paul Giamatti plays a Dutch-American physicist, Hiroyuki Sanada plays a gay Japanese delegate associate of Moe’s, and Sienna Miller is Moe’s girlfriend.

 

Although I have my issues with it, I seem to like this 2018 film from Aussie director Ben Lewin (“The Sessions”) a bit more than most people, enough for at least a soft recommendation. Scripted by Robert Rodat (“Saving Private Ryan”), this true story is a bit disjointed at first, and also seems to end strangely early, but if you like your true stories and non-Bond spy stories this one’s worth a look.

 

There isn’t a bad performance in the film, with lead Paul Rudd handling the tricky lead role quite well. He’s not showing a lot here because the character can’t be seen to show much, in fact the character is somewhat aloof. So it’s to Rudd’s credit that he’s able to play that aloofness without being a dull blank slate or entirely unlikeable. I’m not saying he should stay in this dramatic lane all the time, but he certainly shows he has more than adequate chops for it. Paul Giamatti is an immediate scene-stealer, and Guy Pearce gives off Robert Webber vibes as a military man, showing as he did with “L.A. Confidential” that he can really do these serious, humourless parts well. Sienna Miller is no Meryl Streep but has really improved as an actress over the years and is fine here. Perhaps best of all, Jeff Daniels once again reminded me of just how damn good an actor he is. This is definitely one of his better character turns to date. Despite wearing the most obvious hairpiece of all-time, Mark Strong is as good as ever playing a character who judging by the postscript would be interesting enough to have a film centred around himself. I also found it quite interesting to see Hiroyuki Sanada in a different period setting for a change, playing a gay character as well. You won’t get as much time with him, however. The film has been really nicely shot by Andrij Parekh (“Half Nelson”, “Blue Valentine”), and the production/set design is particularly top notch.

 

An array of good turns from top performers, as well as a compelling lead character result in a solid, if initially shaky spy-drama. It could’ve and should’ve been better, but this one’s alright still. Rodat’s script is based on a biography by Nicholas Dawidorf.

 

Rating: B-

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