Director: Tom McCarthy (3/5)
Strong performances from the entire cast anchor Tom McCarthy’s Win Win and are no doubt what’s responsible for its overall good reviews and 94% ‘fresh’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. While I can’t really say anything bad about it, Paul Giamatti’s all too familiar style is beginning to weigh down a touch on my enjoyment of the films he stars in.
Giamatti plays Mike Flaherty, a lawyer with a struggling practice who is also coach for the dismal high school wrestling team (Giamatti to the core, right?). When a client in the early stages of dementia is declared unfit to make his own decisions, Mike becomes his legal guardian in return for a monthly cheque and promptly puts him in an elderly care home. Along comes Kyle (newcomer Alex Shaffer), the old man’s grandson, to live with him and all of sudden Mike finds himself stuck with an unexpected problem which, surprise surprise, has unintended benefits. The boy turns out to be a champion wrestler and provides the shot in the arm the team needs to succeed. Along the way Mike must deal with a growing conscience about the situation with Kyle’s grandfather, which is made all the more difficult by the sudden arrival of Kyle’s mum, fresh out of rehab.
In all honesty, this is a very well made film. The characters are genuine and carry a sense of a beleaguered reality that is sorely missed in many films, while the script provides the comedic relief necessary to still enjoy something pitched so close to real life. It manages to avoid coughing up the staged emotional twists that we’ve come to expect from many films and does so with finesse and poise that is fast becoming a trademark for director Tom McCarthy. While I loved McCarthy’s previous films, The Station Agent and The Visitor, I merely enjoyed Win Win. Even now I feel unfair giving it such a lack lustre appraisal but there was something almost formulaic in the story of the film that just didn’t quite gel with me.
In all fairness though, it is a film written and directed by a very talented man and grounded with excellent and believable performances. But would I see it again? Not a chance.
Win Win
