Win Win
The overall feeling each character radiates is one of hope of better things, projected in their own special way, which is what gives Win Win its buoyancy, vitality and charm.

At the start of the Win Win trailer, the young daughter asks: what’s Daddy running away from? It’s this kind of probing question that many of us have asked from time to time, and this is writer/director Thomas McCarthy‘s great talent: observing reality and picking up on daily human reaction and resilience, without resorting to sarcasm or theatrics, as such.

After the successful Oscar-nominated Barney’s Version, acclaimed actor Paul Giamatti strikes gold yet again, in another unassuming, self-depreciating powerhouse performance full of brilliantly acted nuances, in a story brimming with bittersweet moments.

Giamatti plays struggling, small-town lawyer Mike Flaherty whose real passion is wrestling – and one you fear he was never very good at to take it up seriously. Flaherty volunteers as the local high-school wrestling coach for the Pioneers, but like his work, his team just don’t seem to amount to much. Things begin to change when Flaherty dishonestly takes on the full guardianship of a wealthy, elderly client, and just after putting him in a home and pocketing the monthly maintenance fee, a troubled teen grandson, Kyle (Alex Shaffer), materializes from nowhere needing a place to stay. Guilt propels Flaherty to take him in, but far from being a burden, Kyle turns around Flaherty’s fortunes – and his and his family’s life.

McCarthy’s film picks up on real truths that people ask themselves all the time, whilst challenging the audience as to their own reactions to events in an illusive and entertaining fashion. Win Win is very much about the winners and the losers who don’t seem all that apparent at first – even though we all pass initial judgement, and without resorting to neat little clichés and patronage, it almost lets events play out naturally.

Like McCarthy, we actually care about all the characters, and how they will end up – even the supporting ones. Each has been brilliantly developed and carried throughout the story, and all have a purpose, rather than just supporting the leads. Aside from Giamatti’s faultless performance, Amy Ryan is fantastic as Jackie Flaherty, Mike’s no-nonsense, straight-talking, Brooklyn-born wife, who shares many of the film’s great comedy lines withBobby Cannavale playing Mike’s hot-headed, overly enthusiastic friend, Terry Delfino, who’s trying (unsuccessfully) to get over his wife’s affair. Cannavale is set up to be the film’s lovable fool, but even Terry has more depth than first depicted. McCarthy gives us a bunch of chalk-and-cheese personalities that simply click together in the bigger picture, without over-egging their differences. Win Win is more about subtle humour, rather than forced and contrived situations, even though Terry’s antics do lean towards the latter.

What could have turned the film’s fortunes for the worse is a schmaltzy happy ending, with disadvantaged kid, Kyle, turning into a Blind Side Michael Oher. Instead, McCarthy places all the cards on the table, warts and all, and refrains from painting an idyllic picture of suburban bliss and monetary success, once the dust settles. There are still unresolved issues at play, which are what make the film so authentic. Shaffer seems to match Giamatti’s talents in this, with deadpan meets self-depreciating, but without becoming static or vying for pity. The overall feeling each character radiates is one of hope of better things, projected in their own special way, which is what gives Win Win its buoyancy, vitality and charm.

As its namesake, this is another ‘Win Win’ for Giamatti and McCarthy, and a must-see if you’re just waking up to Giamatti’s phenomenal but modest comedic talents. Like a lot of his previous work, Win Win may well be indie-rooted too, but it will hopefully open up this accomplished actor to the mainstream adulation he rightfully and belatedly deserves.