Win Win (2011)
Directed by Tom McCarthy
When down-on-his-luck part-time high school wrestling coach Mike agrees to become legal guardian to an elderly man, his ward's troubled grandson turns out to be a star grappler, sparking dreams of a big win -- until the boy's mother retrieves him.
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What critics compared Win Win to
Like Fox Searchlight’s “Little Miss Sunshine,” Tom McCarthy’s domestic drama combines caricature and farce.
A quirky dramedy in the Juno/Little Miss Sunshine mode, but lacking the latters vibrant ensemble and the formers snappy patter, Win Win is indie with the edges sanded down completely.
Unfortunately, McCarthy's pursuit of this happy ending adds a "Little Miss Sunshine" glibness, right down to the family's deadpan daughter played by Clare Foley, to this otherwise sincere effort.
Reality is always nipping at the narrative’s heels, reminding us that hard situations don’t have easy answers, even if we’re watching a movie that is able to soften some of the edges with well-timed comedy and a gentle sense of quirkiness that doesn’t become distracting, as it does so often in indie dramedies of this sort (I’m thinking specifically of the prototypical Little Miss Sunshine and all its carefully arranged quirky outrages).
Think Napoleon Dynamite and Little Miss Sunshine.
Good examples include Sideways, Garden State, Juno, and Little Miss Sunshine.
The team is an intriguing, eclectic bunch, and McCarthy -- who is best known for such character-driven dramas as "The Station Agent" and "Win Win" -- excels at making them distinctive, imperfect and human.
The result is a career highlight for the director of such Sundance favorites as “Win Win,” “The Station Agent” and “The Visitor.”
An actor himself — he played a reporter in Simon’s HBO series “The Wire” — McCarthy has evinced a knack for casting in previous films he’s directed, including “ The Station Agent ,” “ The Visitor ” and “ Win Win .”
McCarthy – who hails from New Providence – has mostly worked on smaller canvases: The very good "The Station Agent," the decent "Win Win," the disastrous "The Cobbler."
As in The Station Agent, The Visitor, and Win Win, McCarthy (who co-wrote the script with Josh Singer) creates a great space for actors to cut loose, and this one is one of the most sensational ensembles — top to bottom — in years.
McCarthy, best known for exceptional small films like "The Station Agent" and the underappreciated "Win Win," takes a step up in scope and ambition with this film.
And, by the way, its by-the-book, baseball-oriented screenplay, credited to the usually capable Tom McCarthy ("The Visitor," "Win Win"), unreels so slowly in a full two hours that it might feel as if every pitch has hit you squarely on the noggin.