Win Win

Here is a sweet, unassuming little movie that manged to win me over by the end. I wasn't sure if it would succeed at first. For the first half hour or so, Win Win is kind of aimless. It's sweet and kind of likeable, but it doesn't seem to be leading to anywhere. But then, the pieces of the plot start falling into place, and I found myself caring about the characters. The movie's far too neat and tidy to be great, but it's definitely good, and it made me feel happy watching it.

The movie stars Paul Giamatti in the kind of character he seems to be born to play - A well-meaning, but insecure man who life has passed by. His character, Mike Flaherty, is the embodiment of that. He's a small town lawyer with a struggling practice, where he can barely afford to pay the bills, or fix that heater in the basement that is constantly clanging away, disrupting him, as well as his co-workers and clients. He's a family man, with a devoted wife (Amy Ryan) and kids, but even at home, you get the sense that the spark of life is gone. We meet some of the other people in Mike's life, including Stephen (Jeffrey Tambor), an accountant and the head coach of the local high school's losing wrestling team (Mike is the assistant coach), and Terry (Bobby Cannavale). Stephen seems to be in the same place in life as Mike, while Terry's not quite old enough yet to realize that all of his dreams are shattered yet.

As Mike shuffles through his unfulfilled life, he soon learns that his law practice is in danger of shutting down, due to financial problems. He doesn't want to break the news to his wife and kids, but soon he discovers a way out of it. One of his clients, a man by the name of Leo (Burt Young) is in the early stages of dementia, and is being forced out of his home. Mike initially takes Leo's side to let him keep the home, but when he finds out that the estate will pay $1,500 a month to Leo's legal guardian, Mike sets it up so that he himself is named the guardian to his client, and Leo gets shipped off to an old folk's home. Leo has a daughter, who should rightfully be entitled to the money, but she's a drifter and a drug addict, and no one knows where she is. This chain of events sets the plot proper into motion, and these characters, who seemed kind of simplistic, begin to take on a life of their own.

Turns out Leo has a grandson, a shady teen named Kyle (Alex Shaffer), who basically dresses and acts like he's the poster child for jaded youth. Kyle has come to live with old Leo, wanting to get away from his addict mother, but winds up living at Mike's home instead. Mike eventually bonds with the kid, and finds out he was a champion wrestler at his old high school as well. The familiar plot points are put into motion. We know that young Kyle will lead the losing wrestling team to victory. We know that Mike and Kyle will become friends, and start respecting one another. We know that Kyle's mom is going to show up at some point and ruin things. We know all this, and they all happen on cue. But Win Win is a little bit quieter and smarter than the formula suggests. It follows conventions, but it's not a slave to it. There's some pleasant and funny dialogue provided by writer-director Tom McCarthy. Plus, young Mr. Shaffer as Kyle seems like a real kid. He's not a pre-packaged "bad boy with a heart of gold" Hollywood-type. He's quiet and unassuming, but demands our attention. Kind of like the movie itself.

The movie has a lot of little charms like that. I liked the way that Giamatti and Tambor seem to use humor to hold onto their sanity as they go through their dull lives, and deal with the realization that they have a terrible wrestling team, until Kyle shows up. I liked the way the movie doesn't try to play up everything as some big development. The movie is laid back, funny, and kind of sweet. I would have liked more scenes about Mike's home life, maybe give Amy Ryan more to do as his wife until her big scene when she finds out that her husband has been taking money from his client's estate. Still, she does what she can with the role, and everyone else is very good, too. This is not a movie of great performances, but there sure are a lot of likeable ones here.

Yeah, Win Win is very predictable, and the ending is wrapped up far too tidy. So what? This isn't a gritty or realistic film, and doesn't aspire to be. It's a small little movie that probably won't be noticed too much, but those who discover it will remember it fondly. The more I think about it, that was probably McCarthy's intention when he made the film. If it was, he succeeded. This is a sweet and often funny movie.

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