Rich Man’s The Verdict: Both of these movies are character studies about lawyers, but I really enjoyed Paul Giamatti’s portrayal in this film.
★★★★☆
Win Win is a fine little movie by director/writer Tom McCarthy, known for last year’s Best Picture winner Spotlight.. Starring Paul Giamatti (tons of shit), Amy Ryan (The Office) as his wife, Bobby Cannavale (Danny Collins) as his best friend, Jeffrey Tambour (Arrested Development) as his legal partner and assistant coach, Burt Young (Hell yessssss, Rocky) as his elderly client, Melanie Lynskey (Perks of Being a Wallflower), Margo Martindale (August: Osage County), and featuring Alex Shaffer who I’ve not seen in anything before this movie. At the opening of Win Win, we find out that Paul Giamatti’s practice is going broke, he doesn’t have enough money to pay for simple repairs to his house, his wife has no idea the financial trouble they’re in, and, to top it all off, the wrestling team he coaches sucks. To try to fix his financial situation, Paul Giamatti decides to make some money off of his client, Burt Young. Burt is in the early stages of dementia and the courts have decided to make him a ward of the state. Paul Giamatti graciously suggests that he be Burt’s legal guardian so that Burt can stay at his home, instead of being forced to live in a nursing home. It warms the cockles of your heart. Until Paul immediately dumps Burt at a nursing home so he can collect the $1500/month without any work. Shortly thereafter, Alex Shaffer arrives on the scene, he plays Burt’s estranged grandson which forces Paul Giamatti to complicate his ruse. As the movie unfolds, Paul’s conscience has to fight with his financial situation, and sense of pride. Melanie Lynskey, Burt’s daughter and Alex’s mother, eventually shows up and Paul’s even further complicating Paul’s subterfuge.
At its heart, this movie is about Paul Giamatti’s character. It’s about the decision’s he makes and his reactions to the situations he is in. The nice thing about this character study is that it’s about a regular guy facing the problems that many people face in their daily lives. At the opening of the film, Paul seems like most people in the middle of their lives. Maybe they had dreams of grandeur once, but reality has closed in hard and fast. He’s happy with his practice, but it could be so much better. He’s happy coaching the wrestling team, but if they could just win a little more, that would be nice. From his refusal to fix the broken things in house and business, we can see his finances are in shambles, but if he worked together with his wife they could close the gap. It’s not as if he’s living in poverty, but he doesn’t talk to his wife because that would hurt his pride. In each decision, we get to see a little more about Paul’s character and really get to know him. And in the end, I really like him. He’s a good person and he really wants to do the right thing. Even though he makes mistakes and he has flaws, his missteps make him feel more human. The strong, realistic character of Paul Giamatti along with an engaging story made me really enjoy this movie.
Let’s talk about character studies. They’re an interesting genre because they don’t have many defined characteristics. It could be a comedy or a drama. Some of my favorites include Locke, Birdman, Groundhog Day, On The Waterfront, Taxi Driver, There Will Be Blood, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. However, these movies can really hinge on the character they are presenting. I don’t love Raging Bull because I don’t find Jake LaMotta to be that interesting of a character. And, although I found Paul Newman to be a great actor, I found The Verdict to be exceedingly slow. When I look at the list of character study movies that I love, I find it interesting that most of the characters in these films are in extraordinary situations. Win Win is a movie I really enjoyed, but Paul Giamatti’s character is not in any extraordinary situation. The events that transpire may be far fetched from the likelihood of reality, but the forces that embroil him in the plot are heavily grounded in reality. Far more importantly, his emotions and decisions are grounded in reality, forcing the viewer to think through their own reactions to the situations Paul finds himself in.
Next week Josh will be watching The Perfect Storm. This is not a perfect movie, but I found it truly exciting and it really drove home for me the power of nature.
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