The Catcher Was a Spy

Based on true events, The Catcher Was a Spy follows 1930s baseball player Moe Berg (Paul Rudd) as he’s recruited by the Office of Strategic Services to determine if Werner Heisenberg (Mark Strong) is working on an atom bomb. (If so, Moe has been tasked with killing the famed physicist.) It’s compelling subject matter that’s employed to watchable yet forgettable effect by Ben Lewin, as the filmmaker, armed with a script by Robert Rodat, delivers a briskly-paced drama that benefits from its raft of above-average performances – with Rudd’s subdued and low-key work here, for the most part, eclipsed by an eclectic roster of charismatic, engaging periphery players (including Jeff Daniels, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Giamatti, and Guy Pearce). There’s little doubt, however, that The Catcher Was a Spy generally remains unable to become the taut, engrossing endeavor that one might’ve anticipated, as Lewin, along with cinematographer Andrij Parekh, has infused the proceedings with a flat, styleless visual sensibility that diminishes the impact of certain key sequences and, in a far more problematic development, prevents the movie from possessing the thriller-like vibe for which the director is obviously striving – which does, in the final analysis, cement the picture’s place as a decent-enough piece of work that mostly feels like it should be much, much better.

**1/2 out of ****