C is for Critique: The Champion Indie "Win Win"

Though the summer movie swing has begun courtesy of Thor and Bridesmaids I wanted to remind everyone of a little film released several weeks ago that is still worth trying to catch: writer/director Tom McCarthy's indie feature Win Win. See my review below!

It seems completely fitting that Alex Shaffer, who plays the rebellious teenager in McCarthy's latest, is a real-life high school wrestler, rather than an actor. After all, the film feels as genuine and true-to-life as any American indie film in recent memory. It’s a gem of a movie that celebrates how funny and frustrating and unexpected and encouraging everyday life can be, especially when observed through the affectionate lens of a movie camera.

Win Win is the story of a financially desperate lawyer named Mike Flaherty (the perfectly pathetic Paul Giamatti) who volunteers to be the caretaker of his aging client Leo Poplar (Burt Young) only to keep the monthly paycheck and place the poor fellow in a facility for the elderly.  The act isn’t quite as malicious as it sounds, seeing that Leo can’t quite tell the difference anyway, but Mike knows that he is a good guy doing the wrong thing. Still, he pockets the extra dough and we sympathize because Mike is the struggling everyman; he’s got a devoted but needy family, a crumbling practice, and he coaches a despicably bad high school wrestling team. Mike’s secret would probably have remained such were it not for the arrival of Leo’s cigarette smoking, skateboard riding, bleach blonde grandson Kyle (played by newcomer Alex Shaffer). 

Mike and his wife Jackie (the tough Amy Ryan) reluctantly welcome the runaway Kyle into their home after he refuses to take a bus back to his deadbeat mom Cindy (Melanie Lynskey.) She’s in rehab and the boy’s estranged grandfather is slowly losing his memory; neither seem fit to take care of him. What are Mike and Jackie supposed to do? Would we do any differently? Jackie is the most resistant, having only managed young daughters she’s skeptical of the teenage boy – he’s disobedient, a flight risk even -- but she eventually unlocks the basement door and even reveals her own ankle tattoo during a surprisingly charming moment; the two may have more in common than she’d thought. The Flahertys enroll Kyle in the local high school before Mike invites him to practice with the team and fellow coach (Jeffrey Tambour) only to discover – wait for it – that Kyle is a state champion high school wrestler. Mike steps forward at the chance to be a paternal support both on and off the mats, but the team’s skyrocketing success is suddenly interrupted when Cindy appears in town hoping to win Kyle’s affection.
    

You might not know McCarthy’s name or work yet but you really ought to. As an actor his face has popped up alongside more glamorous stars in films like Michael Clayton, Good Night and Good Luck, and Baby Mama, but in 2003 he stepped behind the camera to direct (and behind his laptop to write) the critically acclaimed Sundance hit The Station Agent. His sophomore project The Visitor was released in 2007 and earned it’s lead Richard Jenkins an Oscar nomination. Both films portray ordinary but disheartened characters finding unexpected comfort in surrogate families. Sound familiar?

 McCarthy’s third and latest film version of the alternative family is perhaps his best. Save for a few unnecessarily silly moments with Mike’s best friend, a recently divorced, loud-mouthed bachelor named Terry (played by Bobby Cannavale), McCarthy portrays adults as honestly flawed and kids as smarter than they are given credit for. The script is sharp but never so much so that characters talk in that way which only exists in the movies; Kyle is not Juno and the Flahertys are instead a completely “regular” middle-class group, something not normally seen on the big screen.

Win Win is refreshing. It steers away from the predictability of a teenage sports drama and instead guides us toward a spirited finale where nothing is sweeter than victory on the home front.

9 out of 10.

Catch the trailer here:

Or on YouTube.

So what do you think?  Is Win Win a film you would like to see?