Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 94% (Critics) / 85% (Audience)
Directed By: Thomas McCarthy
Written By: Thomas McCarthy
Starring: Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Bobby Cannavale and Jeffrey Tambor
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures

Synopsis: A struggling lawyer and volunteer wrestling coach’s chicanery comes back to haunt him when the teenage grandson of the client he’s double-crossed comes into his life. (Source)

The Good:
No one plays sad sack better than Paul Giamatti and he really delivers the goods as Mike Flaherty, a lawyer trying desperately to keep his home and professional lives afloat without alerting his wife as to just how precarious their family’s financial future really is. Giamatti also plays a totally different side of his character in scenes where Mike is coaching a high school wrestling team. Wrestling is something that Mike has more control over (even though his team never wins) and it is also where the character and actor show the most passion. As his wife, Amy Ryan matches Giamatti beat for beat, She especially comes alive once the Flaherty’s take in the teenage grandson of one of her husband’s clients. Ryan shows a warmth and mothering nature that keeps her character form becoming too much of a bossy shrew.
Bobby Cannavale and newcomer Alex Shaffer really stand out among the supporting cast. Cannavale has most of the funniest lines as Mike’s best friend who is going through a personal upheaval of his own in the form of a contentious divorce and Shaffer as the teenager that the Flaherty’s take into their home and make a member of their family does remarkably well in his first movie role.
Director Thomas McCarthy shoots this film in such a sleepy, unobtrusive way that sometimes it doesn’t even feel like you are watching a movie and that works very well here.

The Bad:
The movie has a tendency to feel very episodic and a lot of the misunderstandings that are used to drive the film come almost straight out of the THREE’S COMPANY handbook. You know the drill…drama is created by one character keeping a secret from another character that really doesn’t need to be a secret and from there hilarity ensues.

The Ugly:
I really don’t understand why Jeffrey Tambor was so underutilized.

Final Verdict: A movie that can best be described as “sweet” but not in a trite or overly saccharine way. The characters all feel real and the performances are all really good. while sometimes feeling like an episode of a network TV dramedy, for the most part WIN WIN is a funny, emotional treat of a movie. B