Actress Amy Ryan, writer/director and producer Tom McCarthy, actor Paul Giamatti and actor Bobby Cannavale attend a screening f "Win Win" at the SVA Theater on March 16, 2011 in New York City. (Getty Images)more pics » The Bottom Line
Should you see it?
Yes.

Why?
A strong script leads the way, but the star is a bad-ass high school wrestler who steals the show.
Thomas McCarthy has now made three films you should see. Perhaps best known for playing the Machiavellian Baltimore Sun reporter in the final season of the greatest TV show ever made (The Wire), McCarthy should also be known for his writing (he wrote the story for Up) and directorial work (The Station Agent, The Visitor). His newest, Win Win, is in the same vein as his other films. Specializing in character-driven dramas, McCarthy has a good sense of what is funny, and what is not. He has a firm grasp on comic timing. It also helps he does such a good job casting.

Paul Giamatti, he of the bulldog jowels, is simply one of the most-fun-to-watch actors working today. He plays Mike, a small-town NJ lawyer whose practice is struggling. He has a wife (Amy Ryan), a daughter (Clare Foley), and the film begins with him making a shady court room deal to become guardian of a local old-timer named Leo (Burt Young), who has dementia. Mike needs the $1500 a month the state will pay him.  So he does the deal and sticks Leo in assisted living instead of doing the dirty work himself. Despite this selfish act, Mike never loses our sympathy. This is Giamatti's gift: he's likable. Making Mike an anti-hero is what this story needs.

The film turns when a bleach-blond 16 year-old literally shows up on Leo's doorstep. Kyle (Alex Shaffer) is looking for his estranged grandfather. We  learn Kyle's mother is in rehab and with no one to take care of him back in Ohio, Kyle decided to come to New Jersey to live with Leo. Mike has no choice but to take the kid in, and the story takes off.

Mike coaches the moribund local high school wrestling team and he finds his star in Kyle. He and his best buddies (the great Bobby Cannavale and Jeffrey Tambor) look Kyle up on YouTube and find out he was a state champ back home. The joy of the film comes from Kyle's wrestling successes and how his confidence changes his teammates and Mike himself. Kyle does unravel when his mother eventually shows up and the film ends soberly, but correctly.

Altogether, Win Win has a few joyous moments. All involve either Cannavale or Shaffer (who actually was a wrestling state champ in NJ). The story registers linear on the EKG and isn't hard to predict. The lighthearted camraderie of the characters is the reason to see Win Win. The drama never really pushes past anything dangerous, but in the end, doesn't need to.


See photos from the Win Win premiere:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•