I didn\'t really like Win Win when the film was in theaters earlier this year, but seeing it a second time on Blu-ray caused me to reconsider. What\'s wrong with Win Win is what troubles me about many American indies: the pace ambles along and the cinematography is dull as video shot on a cell phone. But what\'s great about Win Win is the story and its morally conflicted protagonist, Mike Flaherty, played by the great character actor Paul Giamatti with a face like a dog caught pissing in the house.
Mike has a good marriage and is a decent dad, but his law practice is failing, his office toilet won\'t flush, the high school wrestling team he coaches is losing and his back balance is nearing zero. Without much forethought, Mike offers himself in court as the legal guardian of Leo, an old man in the early stages of dementia. For a monthly fee from Leo\'s estate, Mike agrees to maintain the old man at home. Instead, he places Leo in assisted living.
Of course, his scheme threatens to unravel with the unanticipated arrival of Leo\'s disaffected but good-hearted grandson and, later, the old man\'s greedy, drug-addled daughter. The genius of writer-director Tom McCarthy comes from the shades of sympathy for all the characters. Mike isn\'t a bad man, but from stress and laziness he made a bad decision. The story advances with right assistance of droll humor.
