Review

Review Date: 3-April-11
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Jubilation!

Win Win (2011)

With The Station Agent, The Visitor, and now Win Win, writer/director (and sometimes actor) Tom McCarthy has become the master portraitist of men undergoing change and emotional discovery. These films are moving, funny, unexpected, and down-to-earth, and they invite their actors to shine. Take Paul Giamatti in Win Win. Coming off another loser-schlub turn in the pointless Barney's Version, Giamatti sinks his considerable chops into the role of Mike Flaherty, a grounded lawyer, family man, and high school wrestling coach who turns his life upside down with a not-so-little white lie. Unable to make ends meet (he's a social aid-type lawyer, not a shark-type one), he gets himself appointed legal guardian to an old man in the early stages of dementia in order to collect a stipend. Although he assures the judge that his ward will be allowed to remain in his own house, Mike unloads him at a nearby nursing home the minute they step out of court.

Win Win addresses how a person's actions impact his family — from big ones like Mike's moral lapse and resultant responsibility, to little ones like his wife Jackie's habit of saying "shit" in front of their children. (She is played with fierce homemaker heart by Amy Ryan.) Although Mike neglects to tell Jackie about his new guardianship, she finds out when the old man's 16-year-old grandson appears. This polite but taciturn boy (Alex Shaffer) is clearly fleeing an unhappy home, and Mike has little choice but to take him in. Jackie's reluctance melts after learning that the boy's mother went into drug rehab and left her son with an abusive boyfriend; Mike's reluctance melts after discovering that the boy is an excellent wrestler. At this point Mike's motivation is still selfish: he wants the kid to stick around to revitalize his embarrassing team. And the boy does just that, so much so that Mike's best friend (Bobby Cannavale, the terrific comic force of the film) begs to become a second assistant coach in the hopes that shared athletic triumph will assuage the pain of divorce.

Ostensibly, Mike is taking good care of his charges, young and old, but he must face the consequences of hiding his true purpose. This process begins when the boy's mother (Melanie Lynskey) arrives to retrieve her son and milk money out of her father's dependent state. Mike's form of selfishness is contrasted with hers for his own and the viewer's edification. The movie wisely doesn't press this point. Mike swallows his lesson with humility (having known it all along in a part of him unswayed by fear) and moves on to better choices. The win-win ending typical of McCarthy's films recognizes that growing wiser and growing together is rewarding, but not exactly easy.

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