WIN WIN MOVIE REVIEW

SPECIAL EFFECTS

What special effects? There was none other than the perfect lighting and bright colors. This is a low budget film so nothing special happened here but if you're into the lighting and photography of the business give this movie a view. You might learn something.

WRITING AND DIRECTING

The movie was written and directed by Thomas McCarthy. The dialog here was pretty decent. There were some natural funny one liners by the experienced cast but I felt that the younger ones couldn't keep pace. The writing was meant to be dramatic but It felt rushed. He may need work in this department but his directing was acceptable. You won't notice much of his mistakes but some shots were out of focus and his timing was off. This movie suffered from awkward jump points that made this film seem unfinished. He did a good job but you can tell it needs more work.



I'm on top of the world!


THE END

I would say give it a view. It made me laugh at points and I thought the story was pretty believable. If you're a fan of Paul then watch it. He gives the best performance out of all of them. This movie is up there with Juno and I think it will get it's just do. Remember this film is suppose to be based on reality so forgive some of the flat performances. That's how they are suppose to act.


STORY 7 out of 10
ACTING 6 out of 10
SPECIAL EFFECTS 8 out of 10 (cinematography)
WRITING 7 out of 10
DIRECTING 6 out of 10

OVERALL 7 (WORTH A WATCH)

Why does this picture look so wrong?

THE MOVIE: CRITIC'S TAKE

I was originally suppose to review the movie screening of Unknown. Well to make a long story short... it didn't happen. But this was a blessing in disguise. Not only did I get to see a very good movie but got to meet a very cool person. The movie Win Win I never heard of let alone cared about it. It won at the Sundance Film Festival and is rumored to be a future Oscar contender. When I heard that I was all for this movie. I'm so glad that I did because this film was better than I ever hoped for.

STORY

The movie begins with Mike, played by Paul Giamatti, jogging in what looks like hell. You see he's a broke lawyer trying to make ends meet so his family doesn't look at him as a disgrace. He sees an opportunity to make things easier for his family but it means he has no choice but to use an old man named Leo, played by Burt Young, for his money. Luckily his grandson Kyle, played by Alex Shaffer changed Mike's point of view.

Father son relationship?

You see Alex isn't just his grandson but a very good wrestler. Mike is a wrestling coach and uses Kyle's ability to better himself and his team. His wife, played by Amy Ryan, thinks that he's a weirdo and rightfully so. They begin to bond in the movie that I couldn't help but smile at. It was like she got a son that she never had.

He's my son now!

 
He kicks everyone's butt until the dreaded mother returns. She is a recovering drug addict who wants her son back and her granddad's love... or money. The son knows what she is up to and is very reluctant on living with her again. Mike and his friends come up with a solution that will solve everyone's problem. One problem though... None of them actually wants what's on the table. As I thought about the story and it's characters I can understand why everyone was at a stand still. Sense this movie has yet to find a wide release I won't give away spoilers but this film is worth the extra bucks.

ACTING

The chemistry here was very good. Everyone played there part well. At first I thought Alex and Bobby's character were a little flat but as the movie goes on you realize that's part of their character. Alex is portraying a disturbed little boy so you can't help but feel for him. Bobby's character  you can't help but laugh at him. Overall the performances were solid, that made this film well worth the watch.

This isn't what it looks like