Everybody Wins
Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Jeffrey Tambor, Bobby Cannavale, Burt Young, and Alex Shaffer are the stars in this movie written and directed by Thomas McCarthy. Giamatti is Mike Flaherty, a family man who runs a modest law office with Tambor (Stephen Vigman). He has a wife, Jackie (Amy Ryan), two children, and a passion for coaching high school wrestling.
Unfortunately, business at the law office is going slowly, money is getting tight, and to top it off his wrestling team is performing terribly. Overstressed and concerned about being able to provide for his family, Mike cheats the system by becoming the legal guardian of one of his clients, Leo Poplar (Burt Young). Burt is in the first stages of dementia, and is deemed unable to care for himself by the state of New Jersey. He wants to live at home, but his daughter has not been seen in twenty years and no one can locate her. Mike decides to become the legal guardian of Poplar so that he can get the extra $1500/mo commission check, but instead of caring for him directly in Leo’s home, he places him in a local nursing home.
A shady move to be sure, and one that is bound to backfire at some point. Soon after placing Poplar in the home, Mike runs into Alex Shaffer’s character, Kyle. Kyle, it turns out, is the grandson of Leo. He has ran away from home to live with Leo, but instead ends up living with Mike and Jackie after discovering that Leo is in a nursing home. A loner, Kyle eventually warms up to the family and enrolls in the local high school. He’s a star wrestler, and boosts the morale of Mike’s wrestling team while simultaneously finding a new home to live in.
Things get complicated when Kyle’s drug-rehabbed mother re-enters his life. She wants to move Kyle and Leo away, but Kyle is fiercely on Leo’s side. A good dose of drama is added to the consistent witty humor, and although the movie is tackling a serious matter, it manages to stay light-hearted and very enjoyable.
Just about everything with Win Win from a film critic standpoint is pretty solid. The writing is great, from the clever uses of the word s@it to the funny conversations between Terry (Cannavale) and Mike. The casting and acting are stellar all around, too. I also liked how, ultimately, everything worked out for the characters — this sounds cheesy to say it, but it’s a very good ‘feel good movie.’
Winner On Blu-ray?
The Blu-ray release of Win Win is typical, but good. Presentation quality is on par with what you would expect for a modern day movie — crisp, vibrant image quality with no noticeable technical flaws. The audio is by far dialogue driven, and I thought the volume and clarity thereof was spot on.
As for extra features, there are a few. They are:
-Deleted Scenes (Two scenes, 1m54s, HD)
-Tom McCarthy And Joe Tiboni Discuss Win Win (6m29s, HD) – A funny, interesting discussion between the two writers.
-David Thompson At Sundance 2011 (2m27s, HD) – David Thompson is one of the supporting roles, a character named Stemler. This is just a brief feature of him doing interviews and walking around Sundance.
-In Conversation With Tom McCarthy And Paul Giamatti At Sundance 2011 (2m27s, HD) – A promo feature really, but worth a once-over.
-Family (2m24s, HD) – You question whether this is really worth putting on the disc, but it’s basically just another quick promo piece.
-Music Video: “Think You Can Wait” By The National (4m35s, SD) – The theme song to the movie is performed by this band. The video includes the musicians as well as scenes from the movie.
-Trailer (2m22s, HD)
This is a great movie with on par presentation quality and an ok set of extra features. To the summary…