WIN WIN

WIN WIN

Wrestling With The Big Issues

Directed by Thomas McCarthy
Starring Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Bobby Cannavale, Jeffrey Tambor, Alex Shaffer, Burt Young

Over the course of just three films, actor turned filmmaker Thomas McCarthy has quietly become one of the best actor’s directors currently working, coaxing excellent, nuanced performances out of the working thesps who populate his understated comedy-dramas. In many ways Paul Giamatti is a perfect match for McCarthy’s sensibilities, with his shlubby, beat-down screen presence and palpable sense of wounded humanity, and together they’ve crafted a narrative that is touching and uplifting while still remaining anchored by a concrete sense of reality.

Giamatti is Mike Flaherty, a struggling small town lawyer and high school wrestling coach whose monetary problems force him to take on the guardianship of the wealthy but senile Leo (Burt Young, a long way from Rocky). Events conspire to also bring Leo’s grandson Kyle (newcomer Alex Shaffer) to Mike’s doorstep. Kyle, a troubled kid who has sought out his grandfather for some respite from his junkie mother, Cindy (Melanie Lynskey in a small but affecting role), just so happens to be a wrestling prodigy, and in him Mike sees a shot at redemption not only for the failing wrestling squad, but also himself. All that is jeopardised when Cindy arrives, fresh out of rehab, and decides that she wants to take care of Leo herself. Sure, her motives are less than altruistic, but then again, so are Mike’s.

Under scrutiny, the plot is strung together with coincidence and happenstance, but it’s the characters that really make Win Win sing, McCarthy’s script imbues every part with warmth and believability, while still refusing to let them off the hook for their transgressions. Mike is a nice guy and one of life’s natural battlers, but he’s only concerned with Leo’s wellbeing because of the monthly payment his guardianship brings him. Leo seems like a harmless and charming old coot, but then why has his daughter not spoken to him in 20 years?

Yet, even though his characters have feet of clay, McCarthy refuses to paint anyone as a villain, seeing them instead as merely human, and thus fallible. Even Lynskey’s Cindy, who certainly fits the role of chief antagonist, is just acting out of pain and desperation when she contests Mike’s relationship with Leo.

Excellent support comes from Amy Ryan as Mike’s stolid wife, Jackie, and the ever reliable Jeffrey Tambor as his put-upon assistant coach. However, Most Valuable Player must go to Bobby Cannavale as Mike’s long-time friend Terry. Cannavale manages to take a character who could have been spun as mere comic relief and show us what makes him tick.

In the end, it’s the rich humanity of Win Win that makes it a success, and the deft manner in which McCarthy’s script and direction makes us empathise with his characters even as we lament their failings. Warm and wise without being trite, it’s simply a joy of a film.

_TRAVIS JOHNSON