Win Win

Director Tom McCarthy knows exactly what to say and how to say it; WIN WIN is confidently told, and every moment informs another to come. Mike looks like he’s running strong in the first sequence, and we think all is well -- clearly, this is a self-improving man. But soon enough we see him gasping in the dust of surer-footed sprinters. At work, the boiler tolls like a doomsday bell. All is not well. The men in this movie are struggling -- and so are the women. And though their struggles are familiar (the economy, divorce, work boredom), the way they struggle is delightfully unexpected.

And that's not just because Giamatti plays bereft without any cliches and Ryan does an excellent job as a supportive wife without the usual treacle; the rest of the cast is pretty awesome, too. At many junctures, Win Win could have taken a losing (or boring) turn, but it just refuses to. A lesser movie would have had Mike take his scheme further into slapsticky territory, or the troubled Kyle hook up with a classmate who brings formulaic joy to his life, or Terry bed Mike’s secretary as a way to fish himself out of his post-separation disquiet. But leave that to the amateurs and unimaginative.