A forgotten classic

Rating: Null/10 (20 September 2013)

Even though you maybe could question it, I think being a teenager is one of the toughest parts of a person's life. It's the end of childhood and many things need to be done as you transition to being a grown up. We have seen many films throughout the years on this subject; some good and some bad. Win Win tackles this subject with excellent results.
Here Kyle (Alex Shaffer) is a troubled teenager and is put into an alternative family billet home of Mike Flaherty (Paul Giamatti) after running away to New Jersey to his grandfather Leo (Burt Young). Flaherty is a wrestling coach so there is a wrestling theme to the story as well as stolen money and a teen trying to find himself.
Initially you go into this expecting a sports story but it's not really what this movie is all about. There are many genres and subjects in this movie. There is a drama involving a troubled teen. There is a sports story. There is a story involving economic problems from work. This all comes back to the story of a kid just trying to be himself in the toughest time of your life. All of these aspects are covered very well with just the right amount of attention to each. Usually a type of mish- mash of things like this in a movie is not good but here it works.
Similar to Hailee Steinfeld who was an unknown teenager casted in the 2010 movie True Grit, Win Win puts Alex Shaffer in the lead role as the troubled teen. Shaffer is someone known for being a wrestler and had never been in front of the camera before. In spite of that, he delivers an outstanding performance that you can't not love and I can't say enough about him. The rest of the cast which includes Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Bobby Cannavale and Burt Young is solid and works in every way.
Many films stood out in 2011, but I think Win Win bettered all of them. It's a great film with a huge heart but it just didn't seem to find its' audience. I consider this a forgotten classic.