True to its title.

Rating: 10/10 (5 April 2011)

Win Win is surprisingly fresh. Although much of the plot encompasses high school wrestling, Win Win is far more than a sports film. What really drives the film is the lens it offers into viewing the modern family – a topic seemingly more popular in recent films. In depicting the eligibility of a critic's response to any film, published critic John Simon states that it "may be entertaining only for those who, by a native endowment of intelligence and sensitivity, or by education, training and experience, possess the wherewithal for being entertained by it." With Win Win, it's the viewer's exposure to the complexities of modern family life that makes the film not only entertaining, but entirely engaging and refreshing as well.
Paul Giamatti plays Mike Flaherty, a family man balancing a struggling career as a small- practice attorney and his role as the local high school wrestling coach. An impressive first performance is brought to the screen by Alex Shaffer playing the character of Kyle. He is a runaway minor seeking his Grandfather Leo, an elder whose estate is under dishonest guardianship of Mike. Kyle turns out to be Mike's answer to his winless wrestling team, as he is an accomplished wrestler from back home in Ohio. Ironically enough, two weeks after being casted, Shaffer dominated New Jersey's state-championship wrestling tournament. His bleach-blonde hair and subdued too-cool-for-school persona works well in the film, which favorably juxtaposes the cliché wrestling image of shaved-heads and varsity jacket jocks. Posing as both an athletic solution and a legal risk to well-intentioned Mike and his corrupt practices, Kyle's newfound home is threatened and conflict ensues.
Thriving on thematic elements of moral behavior, individual control, and self-preservation, Win Win dissects modern parenthood with topics of the role model father, contrasting images of two differing mother figures, and also an observation of parental/estate inheritance. The film screams 'New Jersey', but not in the embarrassing newfound 'Gym, Tan, Laundry' manner, but authentically in its tone, appearance, and most importantly, its use of Jon Bon Jovi. Often hilarious and indefinitely emotive, Win Win is an experience worth stumbling upon of which is true to its title.