Review of Win Win (2011) by Ryangee — 30 May 2011

Thomas Mccarthy's Win Win achieves a somewhat tour de force trait for a comedy, creating a laughable film with characters the audience truly cares about. This Sundance favorite tells the story of lawyer and part-time wrestling coach Mike Flaherty (Paul Giamatti) who is dealt with a struggling firm and a hopeless wrestling team. To make some extra cash to support his family, he becomes the guardian of his dementia-bound client through some questionable business actions. After he takes on this task, he stumbles across his client's grandson, Kyle, a star athlete in the form of a troubled teenager. Just when Kyle brings success to Mike's wrestling team, Kyle's mother - fresh out of rehab - threatens to hinder everything.

Win Win succeeds in mostly avoiding cliche aspects of unrealistic happiness. With that being said, the film feels natural and heartfelt, the script develops characters that audience feels a sense of pathos for. The characters's development unfolds over the course of the film, and the audience feels as if they are there every second of the way. To balance these potentially saturated dramatic elements, Win Win has a large sense of humor. The film's laughs do not feel forced, as the hilarity comes from the subtlety of the script: it relies on quiet and sentimental humor. But that is not to say that Win Win still executes some ridiculous yet humorous one-liners.

Due to its commendable script and talented cast, Win Win is everything a comedic-drama should be, and more. It is touching, believable, and makes us root for the underdogs in life. It is a well crafted film, albeit predictable. Even though the conclusion does follow the cliched feel-good solution, the film is overall a splendid film that keeps us rooting until the end.