Win Win - Movie Review

Paul Giamatti finally started getting the recognition he deserves around the time he did Win Win. He doesn't have the good-guy looks to win him a lot of lead roles, but he keeps plugging away. I enjoy him as an actor and thought he was phenomenal in the series John Adams. Win Winshowcases Giamatti at his best.

Mike Flaherty (Giamatti) is a lawyer with a struggling legal practice. He shares work space in an antiquated house with his friend Stephen "Vig" Vigman (Jeffrey Tambor), who is a CPA. The plumbing doesn't work, they need a better copier and their boiler threatens to blow at any time. With two appointments a day, Flaherty is struggling to pay the bills. He is basically a good guy, who volunteers as a wrestling coach in the evenings. It seems to be where his passion lies.

One of Flaherty's court appointed cases involves an elderly man, Leo Poplar (Burt Young), who is suffering the onset symptoms of dementia. Flaherty genuinely wants to keep Leo in his home, but the opportunity to pay his bills causes him to do something stupid. Flaherty represents to the court that he will care for Leo, charging a fifteen hundred dollar fee. Flaherty then places Leo into the very nursing home that the state would have placed him in. It is a dirty secret that Flaherty must keep covering.

Things begin looking up for Flaherty, but his ill conceived plot lingers just beneath the surface waiting to rear its ugly head. It begins almost immediately when Flaherty arrives to shut the water off at Leo's home. A young man, Kyle (Alex Shaffer) is sitting on the porch, looking for his grandfather (Leo). It turns out that the boys mother is in drug rehab. Flaherty takes the boy in and is stunned to find out that he is a champion wrestler, just the piece he needs to turn his struggling team around. While Kyle has a positive impact on the team, the visible dysfunction in his own family will soon uncover Flaherty's own dysfunction.

What made Win Win work the most for me was the cast of characters. I like quirky, but also want my characters to be believable. This film strikes a remarkable balance between the two. The characters are eerily reminiscent of people I know. The characters are a nice combination of friends, family and antagonists that create suspense, drama and levity. The motives and emotions of the characters are crafted to give them flesh. Their dimension made the rest of the writing better. The story was excellent, opting for a different path than taking an underdog team to the championship. That is not this story...that one belongs on the Disney channel. This story is real, with people who hurt, who strive to do better, who fail themselves and their families. They are good people who we care about and can be disappointed in, while still rooting for them. That balance is one that writer/director Thomas McCarthy found with seemingly little effort.

McCarthy did something else with this film that was interesting. He chose to cast a wrestler and teach him to act, rather than trying to teach an actor to wrestle. The casting call resulted in the discovery of Shaffer. Shaffer did an excellent job for a newcomer. If I had not known that he had no prior film experience, I would never have guessed it. The idea paid off. While we were not treated to many wrestling matches, it was evident that Shaffer had skills. He and Giamatti generally seemed to have a great relationship that felt like it may have spilled over off screen. I like the way McCarthy treated Flaherty's wife Jackie (Amy Ryan), as well. She has a Jersey girl edge. She talks about punching Kyle's mother in the nose, yet finds herself consoling the boy's mother two minutes later. Ryan gave the mother that instinctive motherly quality that can turn from tough-as-nails to tenderness with the flick of a switch. The casting was flawless for me.

Win Winhad plenty to like. A great cast, intriguing characters, an interesting (non-formulaic) plot, strong dialogue and good pacing. The story was engaging, believable and covered a wide range of emotions. I really enjoyed everything about this film. It had a nice look, it was understated without being boring, I identified with the characters, the story seemed credible. It provided an interesting perspective and showed that even fundamentally good people can make poor choices. Highly recommended with a rare 9/10.

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