"Whatever the fuck it takes"
With Win Win Tom McCarthy, he of outsider films The Station Agent and The Visitor, shifts his attention to a family man at the centre of his community. However, much like Finbar McBride and Walter, Paul Giamatti's Mike Flaherty is forced to reassess after a new person enters his life. This person is Kyle, a 16-year-old runaway attempting an escape from life with his drug-addicted mother and Kyle, it turns out, has a talent which Mike may be able to put to use to better his own life. For Mike is the local High School wrestling coach and a community lawyer and equally successful at both - that is to say, not very. His family seem blissfully oblivious to his law firm's troubles despite the constantly dropped hints like his unhappiness at the idea of hiring professionals to carry out work he feels he can do himself (lavatory fixing, tree felling).
Win Win is the story of an everyday guy making bad decision after bad decision but even while you hold your head in your hands and pray for him to stop, you revel in the comedy of the situation. But when Kyle's mother arrives on the scene Mike's life is once again turned on its head as he finds that his bad decisions can't be ignored forever. Melanie Lynskey brings a brittle presence to this rather gentle comedy and in forcing Mike's hand delivers the dramatic element of the script, yet McCarthy manages to avoid the cloying cliches of the genre, bringing the story to a satisfactory feel-good ending without the sense of disappointment which follows when a witty film sinks into sentiment.
Paul Giamatti is excellent as the good guy gone surprisingly (and rather pathetically) bad. He underplays everything allowing the more colourful characters to grab the attention and none do this better than his friends Stephen (Jeffrey Tambor) and Terry (Bobby Cannavale), an hilarious duo of best intentions and ego. Cannavale gets most of the big laughs as the overgrown spoilt man-child dealing badly with the breakdown of his relationship and suffering from some overly nostalgic form of midlife crisis.
But special mention must go to debutante Alex Shaffer. His Kyle is subdued and gentle whist hiding a lot of pain and great strength underneath. The impact that he has on and the relationship he builds with his adoptive family is genuine and moving.
A gentle character-driven comedy that ticks all of the best McCarthy boxes.
- 8/10
