Wick's Review

Summary - Really Great 4.5

Win Win has become such a cliche, yet is anything but in the entirely winning movie of that title. Cleverly mining today’s uneven economy, the uneasy equality of modern marriages, the unjust world of neglected kids, and not least, the under-appreciated sport of high school wrestling, Win Win proves unerringly uplifting, a minor-key classic even.

Unassuming and real, notwithstanding occasional broad humor, Win Win packs more emotional honesty than any ten chick flicks. Paul Giamatti and Amy Ryan’s marriage, complete with three kids, a failing business, ethical lapses, an unanticipated ward and the healing power of love make this an ideal movie for adult date nights. It even has a happy ending. Plus the broad humor triggers some legit LOLs.

Teens who give it a chance will relate to newcomer Alex Shaffer’s outsider character, a way-cool wrestler with a mop of bleached hair on his head, a tattoo of Ohio on his back and a legitimate chip on his shoulder.

Writer-director Tom McCarthy deserves to be lionized for Win Win. The real life magic he captures compares favorably to the fanciful magic in Up, another movie he had a hand in writing. Who says meaningful auteur cinema is dead?

Finally, anybody who ever went through a wrestling practice, let alone a match, will recognize the adolescently humorous, testosterone-infused stupidity of the wrestling scenes. The best wrestling movie ever? Hell yeah. Why not. We’re talking wrestling, not pro wrestling. What’s the competition?

Acting - Really Great 4.5

Paul Giamatti plays an everyman perfectly. A consummate actor, he also looks like the guy next door. He and Bobby Cannavale – who plays his best buddy – are a study in contrasts: a pair of Italian-American actors, one short, dumpy, homely, the other tall and strikingly handsome.

And how about Alex Shaffer as Kyle the killer wrestler, cool as James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause. Tom McCarthy famously figured it’d be easier to teach a wrestler to act the part of laconic young man than to teach a candy-ass to wrestle. Shaffer is a superior wrestler, a NJ state champ last year, winning his crown in dramatic fashion. With his yellow bleached hair, he’s the very picture of misunderstood youth.

While the entire cast is terrific, I’m generally rating the actors a touch higher than the actresses.

Bobby Cannavale has more than a little to do with that. Second bananas rarely score this well. He plays the guy most guys want to hang out with – the stupidly funny, handsome, rich, genetically gifted, emotionally stunted guy.

Amy Ryan more than pulls her weight as a thoroughly modern mom, blissfully unaware of her family’s financial straights, often irritated but ultimately strong and loving. Importantly, she’s a proud Jersey Girl.

Jeffery Tambor is always a welcome sight, here a CPA moonlighting as wrestling coach, even though his character never wrestled. Good thing, since he doesn’t look like a former wrestler, to put it mildly.

Several small characters spice up the movie:

• Burt Young, still famous from Rocky, as an old man in need of guardianship.
• Melanie Lynskey as a user of a mom and daughter.
• Margo Martindale – one of today’s best character actresses – as a quietly powerful attorney.
• David Thompson as Stemler, the smart-aleck scrub wrestler. Funny kid.

Film - Really Great 4.5

Best depiction of a modern marriage since Coach Eric Taylor and his wife Tami.¹ Perhaps better, as it reveals the faults they know about each other and the ones they learn about, since they’re each flawed yet fundamentally good. Wow.

Auteur Tom McCarthy’s third time behind the camera proves that the more personal the story the more powerful the movie, given how remote The Visitor – his sophomore effort – felt.

¹ Friday Night Lights, the show.

Edge - Tame 1.5

Reality - Glib 1.2

The wrestling is Hollywoodized yet still superb, with the tough guy coaching and macho tics all spot on, even if Giamatti hardly cuts a prototypical wrestling figure even as a middle-aged man.

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