'The Catcher Was a Spy' is more pallid than its eminently juicy subject deserves

Paul Rudd stars as Morris 'Moe' Berg, a middling catcher in baseball’s major leagues who was recruited by US military intelligence to spy on and possibly assassinate physicist Werner Heisenberg.

Morris “Moe” Berg was a middling catcher in baseball’s major leagues who, in 1944, was recruited by US military intelligence to spy on and possibly assassinate Werner Heisenberg, the physicist believed to be in charge of Hitler’s A-bomb ambitions.

“The Catcher Was a Spy,” directed by Ben Lewin and starring Paul Rudd as the Ivy-educated Berg, who was fluent in seven languages, is a much more pallid experience than this eminently juicy subject deserves. Grade: C (Rated R for some sexuality, violence, and language.)