What I Watched -- Win Win

It took me two tries to get through Win Win, but not because the movie wasn't good.  I just pulled my usual movie routine of falling asleep in the first 20 minutes.  It's pretty standard for me and has nothing to do with the quality of the movie.

Paul Giamatti again plays kind of a hapless character with a good heart (see Sideways).  (Although don't write him off as completely typecast.  If you saw John Adams, you know that he can accomplish great things when he's trading letters with one Laura Linney.)

In this particular movie, Giamatti plays an attorney and wrestling coach struggling to make ends meet and hide that fact from his wife Jackie (Amy Ryan).  Into their lives falls Kyle (played by Alex Shaffer in his first role), a runaway who just happens to be a fantastic wrestler.  (Shaffer is actually a state champ wrestler in real life.)

Though he's a bit unorthodox and unpredictable, Kyle turns around the wrestling team and forces some honesty between Mike and Jackie.  Also includes Jeffrey Tambor, Bobby Cannavale (whom director Tom McCarthy also cast in The Station Agent), and Melanie Lynskey in the cast of lost souls.

Bottom line: all the casting was good and Giamatti was appropriately funny, but Alex Shaffer really stole the show as Kyle.  He was just believable enough to seem real, but not so much so that he was boring.  It's a good, if somewhat predictable, feel-good film.