Review: WIN WIN - Another Triumph For Tom McCarthy
rating: 3.5
With his previous works The Station Agent and The Visitor as well as his script work on Pixars wonderful Up - Thomas McCarthy cemented himself as a thoughtful philosopher on American life in some of its lesser-known forms, while still providing enough universality and humanism that they were affecting, relatable, and rather successful. His third film, Win Win, is doubtless his most mainstream to date, dealing with an altogether easier-swallowed family drama story, yet once again, his tendency towards an affecting story, authentic dialogue, and perfectly-cast actors makes this I almost hate to say it a win win situation. While this is another winner from McCarthy despite not quite hitting the same emotional peaks as his two previous films, what really makes Win Win work is the fine work with the script that the actors do. Paul Giamatti is the acting lion here that he has always been, and with every role only furthers the sentiment Ironclad aside, perhaps that hes one of the great living character actors. While hes played the put-upon sad-sack a dozen times now, each time hes able to bring enough zest to the role that it still manages to feel fresh. Here he plays Mike Flaherty, a downtrodden lawyer who faces financial woes while trying to keep his family unit - led by wife Jackie (Amy Ryan) - afloat and coach his local high school wrestling team into fighting shape. After committing to a shady deal which sees him move disgruntled old man Leo Poplar (Burt Young) into a home while he collects a hefty guardianship payday, Mike must face up to his actions once Leos grandson, alienated teenager Kyle (Alex Schaffer), comes to town with nowhere to stay. However, once he realises that Kyle is a wrestler - and more the point, a pretty good one - he decides that letting Kyle stay at his family home might be that titular win win.
While all the performances are integral to the films considerable dramatic successes, alongside Giamatti the most important turn to get right is that of Kyle, and in non-professional actor Schaffer, McCarthy has unearthed a real find indeed. The deadpan quality with which he captures the myopic stoicism of jaded youth shows a remarkable, lived wisdom beyond his few years, and the manner with which Kyle turns his anger into something expressive, even artistic, while remaining likeable and polite yet never overly precocious, is a deft stroke of scripting from McCarthy. As is only to be expected given the directors history, he has populated his latest film with a warm collective of supporting characters, played with affectionate skill by the likes of Bobby Cavanale and Jeffrey Tambor as Mikes wrestling coach buddies and also Melanie Lynskey, playing Kyles money-grubbing mother with a welcome harshness the likes of which is uncharacteristic for her roles to date. One cannot forget Amy Ryan either; ever the moral core of the piece, she keeps the characters from gravitating too far off the trodden path. A lynchpin of likeability for the film, she ensures the material never makes us malign the characters too much, and especially in her scenes with Shaffer, Ryan brings a fuzzy maternal power that feels very genuine and only ups the emotional stakes. 
The film only suffers dramatically because it is so patently ordinary compared to McCarthys previous films, which dealt with distinct, marginalised figures, whereas Win Win is a slightly more familiar though still very good examination of family dynamics. As a family drama and as a subtle meditation on faded glory and vicarious living, it is still very potent, though, thanks to the witty, amusing script, and the luminous performances. McCarthy gives his performers plenty of room to unleash both some explosive confrontations and more subdued, restrained scenes of drama, and both approaches work; what he has effectively done is condense the two poles of family life the chaotically volatile and passive-aggressively stoic - into a concise, affecting whole. Thomas McCarthys focus may be far more everyday than his previous films, but Win Win is a resonant, well-crafted drama with standout turns from the ever-brilliant Giamatti and newcomer Alex Shaffer, who is certainly one to watch. Win Win is out now in the U.K.