This bioipic follows the life of chess prodigy Bobby Fischer (Tobey Maguire) from his boyhood days thru the tournament that made him a world champion. Even at an early age, he was peculiar and his mental issues develop throughout the film. The structure repeats several times: arrogance, then paranoia, then a high stakes game. Watching people play chess is already unexciting, but repeat the process several times and it’s downright excruciating. Even edited with plenty of cuts and angles, the underlying event is a snooze. Maguire plays the traits of arrogance and obsession without being sympathetic, although Liev Schreiber manages to make his character (Boris Spassky) compelling with few words.

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