I am a huge fan of true stories and I like to see the movie and then read the book, and compare and contrast the differences. The book explains a lot that the movie keeps you guessing at  apparently John Du Pont was an undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenic ! The performances make this movie! Steve Carell is unrecognizable behind the makeup and hawk nose even his voice has changed!  His background needed to be explained a bit more I think a voice over narration from Channing’s character Dave Schulz would have helped a lot. He did write the book after all! This movie is disturbing as it really makes you understand that money doesn’t buy happiness also the depressing fact that everyone has their price at which they can be bought!
Like the reviewer says below Bennett Miller (Moneyball,Capote) is an Oscar nominated director,but  the pacing isn’t perfect here some silent scenes of wresting are too long and a little boring.With more editing and some narration at the beginning this could have been a perfect movie ! There still should be Oscar nominations for all 3 leads , and I continue to admire Mark Ruffalo for his acting choices. Haven’t seen him in a bad movie yet. Steve Carell,like Robin Williams and Jim Carrey before him has shown us his dramatic range.
This is a movie about unhappy people ,the only one who is comfortable in his skin is Dave Schulz, Olympic champion, and wrestling coach extraordinaire. Dave Schulz in the movie is oddly devoid of  personality or a sense of humour but he has both in the book. John Du Pont says that Dave is his only true friend  and that could be because  he is the most boring man on the face of the earth.
This is a very thought provoking movie that had me thinking for days . I give it 3.5 out of 5 as it is too long otherwise would be a 4 .This will probably be the only wrestling movie I see in my life!