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Men In Black 3

It’s not a sequel that needed to be made, but thanks to the charm of its leads and a tone that harks back to the wit and humour of the original, it’s a pretty enjoyable trip.

Bel Ami

The excellent female support cast saves this patchy effort, which is let down by its leading man and a flat screenplay.

The Dictator

A disappointing, often repulsive and mean-spirited mess of a film with seemingly only one real criterion on its agenda: to shock and offend.

The Woman In Black

Packed with atmosphere, this old-fashioned but deftly told ghost story delivers ample chills and thrills.

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Win Win (Film)

by Julain Wood | August 16, 2011 17:54 | Edited August 16, 2011 17:55

The formulaic structure of the sports narrative is disappointing, but the top-notch performances ensure this is fresh, engaging and moving stuff.

Hollywood comedies inhabit two parallel universes. In the mainstream one, everyone has big hair, chiselled features, improbably expensive teeth, and sassy talk. Paul Giamatti (Sideways) is the current king of the reverse universe, where people are bald and/or plain, wear daggy clothes, and live mostly trivial lives. They are, however, more approachable, and we can identify with them. In the hands of actor-director Thomas McCarthy (The Station Agent), Win Win is charming and even occasionally moving.

 

Giamatti plays Mike Flaherty, a lawyer not really cut out for litigation whose compassionate approach has brought him to the brink of bankruptcy. When one of his clients, Leo (Burt Young), looks like being made homeless, Mike agrees in desperation to become his legal guardian. All this is a surprise to Mike's exceptionally supportive wife, Jackie (Amy Ryan). Worse still, the couple get landed with Leo's grandson, the sullen and rejected Kyle (Alex Shaffer). Mike and his divorce-deranged buddy Terry (the scene stealing Bobby Cannavale), meanwhile, co-coach a school wrestling team. Guess what? The pint-sized Kyle turns out to be a gun wrestler.

 

The way that the sports action takes over from the domestic tragi-comedy is a bit of a structural problem. Partly, it is the oddity of the whole idea of kids in leotards doing Greco-Roman wrestling. Also, we follow the well-worn path of the school team losing like a bitch before one tumultuous win that caps off the action. The scenes away from the wrestling are full of easy-going warmth and humanist appeal, but the rigidly formulaic structure of the sports movie threatens to strangle the rest of the film. That is a real shame, as the film is utterly fresh and engaging in so many ways. With McCarthy's solid directing, and with the accomplished comic performances, you would expect that this could be a win win for audiences too.