Review: Win Win

Grade: A+

Mike Flaherty has been getting increasingly stressed lately due to some financial woes. He is a private attorney who moonlights as a high school wrestling coach and lately business has been really slow. One day a client, Leo Poplar, comes in. Leo is a wealthy man but he is in the early stages of dementia. The court has deemed Leo incapacitated and was going to have the state take guardianship when in an act of desperation, Mike decides to take guardianship in order to get a little extra money. Shortly after this, Leo’s grandson, Kyle, show’s up looking for somewhere to stay while his mom is in rehab. Mike offers for Kyle to stay at his house for the time being, much to the dismay of Mike’s wife. Mike then discovers that Kyle is an excellent wrestler and put him on the team which quickly raises morale. Everything was going great for Mike until Kyle’s mom shows up and starts tearing everything apart.

Win Win is an excellent and heartwarming movie. The story is very interesting and forces you to think about your own morals and ethics. The movie is funny at times and emotionally stirring throughout most of it. The characters are great and very well written, you quickly connect with all of them. In general, the writing for the movie is fantastic. Written and Directed by Tom McCarthy (The Visitor), this movie is extremely well made and I hope more people discover this movie. I know it’s early in the year to say this but I feel that this is a totally Oscar worthy movie.

The movie stars Paul Giamatti (Barney’s Version, Sideways) in the lead role of Mike Flaherty. Giamatti is an amazing actor and is the reason I went to see this movie as he was the only thing I knew about it before seeing it. His performance was top notch as always, just completely awe-inspiring. It is performances like this that convince me to see any movie with him in it. Amy Ryan (Green Zone, Gone Baby Gone) plays Jackie Flaherty, Mike’s wife. She did an amazing job as well and her character was great. It was great because her character is very hesitant about Kyle moving in at first but then she gets to know him and really connects with him and begins to think of him as one of the family. New comer Alex Shaffer plays the role of Kyle, a quiet and somewhat mysterious kid from Ohio. I have a hard time believing that this is his first time acting because he was really really good in it. The movie also features great performances from Jeffrey Tambor, Bobby Cannavale, Burt Young, Melanie Lynskey, Margo Martindale and more.

Win Win is an amazing movie that everybody should see. It is extremely well written, performed even better and is just an all around great movie. This is the kind of movie where you leave the theater feeling good, and those are the best movies. Seriously, see this movie, as soon as you can.