Win Win

Director: Thomas McCarthy

Starring: Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Bobby Cannavale, Alex Shaffer, Burt Young

Rating: 8/10

ATTORNEY Mike Flaherty (Giamatti) is struggling to keep his head above water.

Business is so sluggish he can't afford to have the workplace boiler fixed and if anything goes wrong with his plumbing or IT system, he needs to try and fix it himself.

To make matters worse, the high school wrestling team he coaches sucks: it has never won a single match.

This basically decent family man is starting to show the signs of stress as he struggles to make ends meet. Then, out of the blue, the opportunity to pull in a steady $1,500-a-month income as the legal guardian for a client, Leo Poplar (Burt Young - you'll remember him as Rocky's coach, Paulie) declared incapable of looking after himself presents itself. It's a sum which would help turn things around at one fell swoop.

Mike puts his scruples to one side and takes the gig - much to his the shock of his baffled wife. He knows his client would prefer to stay in his own home but instead paves the way for him to be cared for in a nursing facility - which is much easier on himself and won't cost him a cent.

Giamatti (has he ever been less than excellent in anything?) has plenty of room to let the creative juices run in this tasty role in which he's perfectly cast. The real revelation of the film is rookie Alex Shaffer in the role of Kyle, a troubled teenager who turns up out of the blue from Ohio hoping to stay with his grandfather - Leo.

In his debut role, Shaffer turns in an effortlessly natural performance and more than holds his own with the established stars. It turns out that troubled though he is, he's a useful wrestler - which presents both an opportunity and a potential pitfall to Mike...

It's a lovely, quirky film with a big heart and some wonderfully offbeat performances.

* Win Win is being screened at Eden Court until Thursday, June 23. See www.eden-court.co.uk for film listings and details.

Hector Mackenzie