Win Win (Review)

Thomas McCarthy’s Win Win is a rare film indeed. It is not spectacular because of its story, which is made up of various elements you’ve likely seen before. It is instead spectacular because of its environment and the people that inhabit it. Even in the best films the characters can come off as mere figments of a writer’s imagination; the entire world in which they live was constructed solely for the purpose of the film, and once the story is over the entire universe ceases to be. Not the case with Win Win. Each character is so well-written and performed that you feel as if you could trace their entire existence back to the womb.

To go too far into the plot of Win Win would ruin some of the film’s joy, so I’ll be broad. Paul Giamatti plays Mike Flaherty, a down-on-his-luck attorney who also coaches the local wrestling team. One day he meets Kyle (Alex Shaffer), the teenage grandson of an elderly client. Kyle has run away from Columbus, Ohio (hey-oh!) to escape his drug addict mother. Circumstances dictate that Mike must let Kyle stay at his house until another solution is figured out.

Meanwhile, it turns out Kyle is a pretty terrific wrestler. He ends up enrolling in school so that he may become a permanent member of the team. After a while, he starts to become a part of the community, as well as the Flaherty family. Only when Kyle’s mom gets involved does the situation get complicated.

At the beginning of the film, many of the characters are lost. It isn’t that their lives are reaching unbearable levels of despair; it’s just that things aren’t going so hot right now. Mike is out of money, his friend (a very funny Bobby Cannavale) has just lost his wife, and the wrestling team is just straight-up awful. Win Win is a fantastic movie about how these characters come together to create something that matters. It doesn’t matter how down on their luck they are; it just matters that they don’t end up wasting their lives.

In theory, this might all sound like a gigantic ball of cheese, but in practice each development feels remarkably organic. Sometimes formula and cliché feel like formula and cliché. In Win Win, it has much more impact. Credit the performances; without the likes of Giamatti, Shaffer or Amy Ryan doing the legwork and making the audience care about the characters, it would all seem far too artificial. Win Win is about who the characters are rather than what the characters do.

I must admit I am unfamiliar with McCarthy’s previous work. While I have heard of films like The Station Agent and The Visitor, they remain unseen by me. If they’re anything like this one, I have become most interested in checking them out. Win Win displays a filmmaker with an almost unparalleled understanding of his characters and actors. It has often been said that McCarthy’s own work as an actor is a reason for this, and if it’s true he’s applied his skills quite well.

Win Win is being sold as an inspirational sports/wrestling movie by many, but this isn’t really the case. The wrestling plot – at most points – is little more than the b or c-story. The film instead focuses on the interactions of the people involved with the wrestling. (Is the horse I’m beating dead yet? Aw well, I’ll keep whacking.) This film knows exactly how people interact, and it plays it all out without growing too mundane. It’s thrillingly authentic.

In bits and pieces, the experience may not seem all that special. When seen beginning to end, it becomes something pretty incredible. The whole of Win Win is far greater than the sum of its parts. This is not a film that intends to change the entire medium; it instead sets out to entertain and deeply move any and all audiences that see it. When a movie is as thoroughly successful at this as Win Win, it’s a wonderful thing to behold.

Rating:  (out of 4)