Win Win
Another one I saw back in April... I think this one was on the 21st.
You know, I think this was one of the first Paul Giamatti flicks that I was a little unsure about heading in. By that I mean, I wasn't sure whether I was going to like it. Usually- like with Barney's Version and Sideways- I expect to like his films. This one looked like it was on a one-way track to Sugarland. It just looked like one of those forcibly feel-good movies that make you horribly sick by the end. But, hey, a horribly saccharine movie with Paul Giamatti may not be all that saccharine at all. And you know what? It was.. in the end. The path it took to get to Sugarland was both surprising and disappointing. Let me put it this way... a whole shit-load of wrongs can, in the right circumstance, add up to a right. Nice.
Let me also put it another way- if you're a fan of moral bankruptcy, this movie is for you. Every character has skeletons or flaws- I know, we all do, but not to the level displayed here. Giamatti plays a noble yet also extremely oily lawyer who agrees to take on the guardianship of an old man apparently beginning to suffer from dementia or senility. He takes up this task, solely to cash in on the rather large stipend attached to the role... yeah, he needs the money for all the right reasons.. the economy is down, his practice is struggling and he has a wife and kid to take care of. But still, not only does he take the role and the money- he then ships his charge off to a nursing home against the old man's wishes. Nice. But wait, doesn't the (financially loaded) old man have any family to royally fuck him over? Well, yes, he does, a daughter... whose stuck for a few months in drug rehab. Turns out though that the daughter has a son (the old man's grandson) who in addition to being almost completely devoid of nearly any kind of emotion is also a spectacular wrestler... which is awesome for Giamatti's Mike because he just happens to be the wrestling coach at the local high school. But then Kyle (the grandson) isn't actually eligible to wrestler for Mike because he's only here visiting his grandfather.... that is, until Mike sees how good a wrestler he is and insists on taking the kid in and enrolling him in school for the semester. After all, Mike's team absolutely sucks and this kid is a wrestling god. Win win right? Yeah I suppose so, but through the course of the story you gradually begin to realize that everyone is an asshole. Mike uses people and is oily. The old man was a horrific father. The old man's daughter is an emotional mess and druggie. Kyle is- as I mentioned devoid of all emotions... well except anger... oh and he has a massively checkered past which he keeps from his new foster parents. Mike's wife (Amy Ryan- the only one, in my opinion working to elevate the movie) is super aggressive and wants to beat everyone up. Even Mike and Jackie's young daughter is whiny and annoying. Sorry if I gave too much a way. I don't think I did though; I'm not really delving into specifics. You'll see. What it amounts to? Win Win for everyone despicable character on the screen, just plain Lose for the audience, which, if they're like me, were rooting for everyone to get theirs by the end of the movie. SPOILER ALERT: no one does. But then you could probably figure all that out from the overly sweet trailers for the movie.
Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad, except that director Thomas McCarthy and company missed an opportunity to create a decently deep or complex movie about trying to make ends meet- both financially and emotionally- in hard times... or what goes on behind the public facade of your typical suburban family when the shit hits the fan. Something along those lines. Because, in truth, they do have some meaty ideas to work with. But they just plain miss the mark. They go for sentimental... but why should we care about these shit heads? Sentimentality only truly works if there's a heaping load of empathy... but then why would I want to empathize here? Well maybe I would if they tried harder not to make these people so slimy. I get it, we all struggle. But come on...
On a quick note, I should mention that there's nothing really wrong with Giamatti's performance here. But his penchant for playing pseudo-neurotic and/or grumpy dudes may be starting to wear thin. Come on, man, let's have some variety, because I know he's a damn, damn good actor he probably has it in him to be less... I dunno schlubby. Oh and another note on a performance here: the blank slate that was Kyle was McCarthy's idea and he pushed for Alex Shaffer's one note performance, then great job, kid. If this is the best Shaffer can do... well either he should be confined to playing emotionless robots the rest of his career or maybe it's time for him to hang up his thespian shoes... whatever the hell that means.
So yeah there you have it... how can I sum this up in the same manner as a big time critic... oh, hey, how about using a wrestling metaphor. Win Win is a movie that gets pinned before it ever gets into the ring? No, huh? Yeah well, it's the best I can do.
Grade: C-
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