Tom McCarthy's third movie is about a squeezed-middle lawyer and could itself be described as a squeezed-middle movie.
Though boasting a high-calibre cast, it is visually as well as financially modest and stands no chance against the behemoth that is Pirates of the Caribbean 4 at the box office. But have no fear. If this twisty, engaging comedy has a message, it's that not all contests need to be won.
Mike (Paul Giamatti) is a decent member of the community, an attorney with a conscience who dotes on his wife and two kids and even finds time to coach the school wrestling team for a pittance.
But now he's broke and having panic attacks.
Having realised that goodness is rarely its own reward, he decides to do something bad and exploits the confusion of a rich old man called Leo (Burt Young). A few days later, Leo's grandson turns up with a bruised eye and no place to go.
Kyle (Alex Shaffer) turns out to be great at wrestling. Then the boy's mum (Melanie Lynskey) shows up. She turns out to be great at smelling a rat.
Giammati is a famously versatile actor, able to turn from sneaky to likeable in the blink of a (bulbous) eye, and he's on fine form as the knackered Mike. I loved this character's laugh. A Nic Cage chortle - juicy, ever-so-slightly manic - it tells us so much about the man he used to be.
That said, newcomer Shaffer (a real life teen wrestler) is, if anything, better. Soft yet clenched, he looks like he's wandered out of Gus Van Sant's Elephant. Victim or psycho? He could go either way. When he asks Mike to hit him before a fight ("just on the side of my head, to wake me up a bit") his face remains poignantly blank.
Hollywood loves heart-breaking ruffians, but Shaffer swerves past all the clichés.
The rest of the cast lend solid support. Lynskey, still best known for her crouched and shadowy part in 1994's Heavenly Creatures, is perfect as Kyle's vulnerable, manipulative, "druggie" mum.
Meanwhile, Bobby Cannavale's Terry practically steals the show as Mike's best friend (a cross between Seinfeld's Kramer and Curb Your Enthusiasm's Richard Lewis, Terry adds an insane bounce to the proceedings every time he smiles).
One could wish the film were shot less plainly (McCarthy took far more risks in his debut, indie hit The Station Agent). One could wish that some of the lines were less slick. Mike's feisty, "rock solid" spouse (though played by the brilliant Amy Ryan) feels like she's been cut and pasted from a sitcom. Those who have any experience of dementia may also be puzzled by Leo. Whatever he's suffering from, it's extremely photogenic.
So Win Win is slighter, and sappier, than it might have been. Still and all, it's a joy.
Win Win
Cert: 15
