TIFF review: Awful movie. Plain and simple.

I saw the film on its Sunday premiere and I can confirm the tepid applause, the lack of standing ovation and the general lack of interest for the whole cast. The theatre was half empty, as the red carpet fans were just a few. Foster in person gave me the impression of being a prick too much into himself: he acted like he’s already a huge movie star almost ignoring fans while half of the people there never heard about him. Sad.
As for the film all the predictions based on the rejection the film had while selling at Cannes where right on point. eOne passed the distribution rights to an even smaller arm of their entertainment holding: Momentum pictures. Small stuff, still no US release date, just the announcement it would be winter 2016. With means NO OSCAR chances.
The film got awful reviews from the main industry outlets in America: THR basically buried both the film and Foster’s performance and Variety said it was a tv movie and Jesse Plemons gave the best performance of the film. Europeans media outlets were more benevolent for two reasons: The Guardian is closely related with the production (remember Foster gave his shocking admission on PEDs to them with the clear purpose to get some headlines ahead of the TIFF premiere) and Studiocanal is France and UK based. Plus French loves this sport, they have the Tour of France and for them is a personal matter, what happened with Armstrong and the Tour.
Long story short: no surprise nobody wanted to buy this film for the US. Sad also that Foster’s performance felt like Charlize Prince or Jake Mazursky jumped on a bike: same character again and again for this guy. The Mechanic and Contraband’s characters also. His mannerisms as Armstrong were the only thing on point, but no heart, no nuance. Also: he should have spent some more time getting in shape to look like a pro cyclist instead of taking PEDs and tell the world about it for a woo effect and some awards attention.
yeap, I’m disappointed and mad.