Review of Win Win (2011) by Hoops2448 — 23 Sep 2011

I read a review for Win Win that described it as "soul crushingly clichéd" and I have to admit that the ending plays like the end of a Nicholas Sparks novel (except no one dies......I think). However this may be the only problem with the film.

The story of a small town lawyer struggling to get enough work to pay the bills while volunteering as a high school wrestling coach on the side because of his love of the game. The best thing about the film is its view on the world with Paul Giamatti's Mike embracing the fact that everything is not black and white. This is in direct contrast with the boy that Mike and his wife Jackie (Amy Ryan) take in who is Played by Alex Shaffer, who sees things as either good or bad even if he won't admit it to himself. The way Shaffer's Kyle and Mike interact is what makes the film as they both seem to understand one another and grow with Mike regaining some of his innocence and Kyle becoming more cynical with them in a way, meeting in the middle. The learning curve in this film is tempered by some of the best black comedy I have watched in a long time with both Jeffrey Tambor and Bobby Cannavale lightening the mood of a sometimes bleak story. The biggest surprise in this film however is how good Amy Ryan and Alex Shaffer are with them both providing a incredible sense of sincerity in a film based almost entirely around a lie. Overall it is a film that I won't forget in a long time but is spoilt by a Hollywood desire to provide a "happy ending", which is a true shame considering the quality of the rest of the film.