Review of Win Win (2011) by Martin D — 10 Sep 2011

Win Win is engaging in the beginning, makes a less interesting turn, and then goes for a pleasing ending.

It's about a lawyer named Mike, who starts to run short on customers and become financially desperate- reflective of the current recession. Then by chance, an elderly client with a serious case of dementia seeks his services against a state ruling that wants to place him in an age care facility. Mike handles the trial, but exploits the client by pretending to be his guardian and charges him a monthly fee.

Now Mike, generally speaking, is a nice guy. He has a wife that cares, and three kids to support. What he did was a blind plunge at a corrupt opportunity. And what he wasn't prepared for were the consequences. Paul Giamatti does a good job with the role, but I kept thinking of William H Macy. I figured that after Fargo, nobody does the stressed, pathetic, swindler better.

The movie had an intriguing plot. It had a relationship to build and a story to focus on between the thieving lawyer and his disabled client. But it gets creative and adopts another plot - about the client's grandson who is a gifted athlete with parental issues. The former seemed more interesting.

The film is written and directed by Thomas Mcarthy who also did the Pixar classic, UP. And with Win Win, he maintains an understanding of humor, human relationships, parental abandonment, and the decisions we face in life.