Paul Giamatti stars as a struggling lawyer/part time wrestling coach in the comedy Win Win from Thomas McCarthy, the director of The Station Agent. With his business on the verge of bankruptcy our protagonist decides to fleece an elderly client who's suffering from dementia and it looks like things are on the up when the clients grandson, on the run from a drunken mum, turns up and seems to be a wrestling prodigy. Much like his previous films there's an interesting, quiet blend of comedy and drama throughout and McCarthy's writing and direction continue to impress. The assembled cast are all on great form and though it's gentleness may not appeal to everyone it's has an intelligence and emotional maturity that's not that common in contemporary Amurican comedies.
And to emphasis my point take Goon for example a mildly amusing but thoroughly infantile comedy starring doofus for hire Sean Wilson Scott as a bouncer whose skill in punching faces lands him a place on the local ice hockey team. Cue a predictable rise to fame plot arc that's dutifully populated with thumbnail characters painted in fingerpaint colours by hamfisted actors. There's a couple of chuckles along the way I suppose and it's slapstick violence picks up some of the slack in the script (which veers between trite and knowing simplitude) but mostly this a basic, hollow shell of a film that hasn't enough laughs and even less plot or character. If you're looking for something dumb and mindless as the main character look no further.
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