★★★☆☆

The Catcher Was a Spy was an enjoyable movie and it tried to not over tell the “gay” part of the story, but that part got a bit tiring. I guess what I’m sick and tired of is every studio and content creation company trying to shove LGBQTI (did I miss any letters?) content into everything. In this case, they have justification. “The Professor” really was gay. It seemed like the writers and producer were trying too hard to tell a “gay story” rather than a historic story. A few more feet of film needed to land on the cutting room floor.

Having said that Paul Rudd was really good. One might even say great. Quite a refreshing change of pace from the dumb roles based on comic books and other comedies where everyone seems to think stupid is funny.

Paul Giamatti absolutely rocked in his role.There seems to be very little that guy is in where I don’t like his work.

What you don’t hear anybody talking about, and you should, is Sienna Miller’s role as Estella (the girlfriend of Moe Berg). That girl has got skill! She’s been in many things including Burnt. If you see her listed as being in something, it is worth a watch.

The Catcher Was a Spy is the story of Moe Berg, a professional baseball catcher at the end of his career. He can still play, but everyone knows the clock is running out. Unusual for a professional ball player is the fact he is highly educated. He actually earned the nickname “The Professor.” He uses a few college connections to get recruited to the Office of Strategic Services and basically gets tasked with making certain Hitler doesn’t get “the bomb.”

That part of the story is quite good and rewarding. They really could have spent more time on how ordinary citizens got pulled into OSS and sent all over the world, sometimes to kill people.

Summary: I didn’t feel cheated. I’m glad I watched it because I had only heard a snippet here and there of the story. I wouldn’t watch it again.

For more movie rental ideas please see list one and list two.