Win Win vs Fish Tank

Kyle is an odd kid. At first, he seems like trouble. Not just trouble, but Movie Trouble. His hair is dyed a color Sherwin Williams would call “Slim Shady”, he’s covered in tattoos, he’s a runaway, and he’s both serious and secretive. But something else is going on. He’s unassumingly nice, well-mannered and soft-spoken. When he’s offered money, he politely declines, insisting he has plenty. He’s also an excellent wrestler; not some untamed movie athlete that becomes good, like in The Blind Side (yes, I’m aware that movie is true. If that all happened, then it all happened just like it always happens in movies). He’s gifted, trained, and ready to suit up. He plays fair and encourages others. He’s got a traditional, clichéd movie set-up, and ignores it. What a weirdo.

Mike (Paul Giamatti) is a small-town New Jersey lawyer. He’s mainly a good guy, working for old people and raising a cute family. He does something fairly unethical. If you’re going to appreciate Win Win, and Mike as its hero, then you have to accept the bad thing he does. I make a point of never judging movie characters, so I was okay. In life though, if someone did what Mike does in Win Win, well, it’s kind of bad. This thing he does, this borderline awful thing, leads him to Kyle, who is the grandson of one of Mike’s clients. Kyle has left his addict mother and her boyfriend in Ohio to live with his grandfather. That’s not an option, so Mike brings him home. At first, his wife, Jackie (Amy Ryan) is worried for all the reasons anyone who’s seen a movie would be worried. Is Kyle a thief? A druggie? Is he safe to have around their two little girls? He wins her over about as fast as he did me, and she transfers her concern to his mother. What’s the mom’s problem? Why did Kyle leave, and why isn’t anyone looking for him? Kyle sits in on Mike’s High School wrestling practice (Bobby Canavale and Jeffrey Tambor are his assistant coaches), asks if he can join in, blows everyone’s mind by being awesome, and enrolls in school so he can play. It sounds a little abrupt and sitcommish, but Win Win unfolds naturally and believably, as Kyle excels at wrestling, and becomes a member of Mike and Jackie’s family. You might cry a little.

So that’s it? Win Win brings Kyle to this family and high school sports and that’s that? Not quite. There’s still something up with him. Why does a kid that age have that many tattoos? Why did he leave Ohio? What’s up with his mom? Win Win answers the questions it can, and leaves others open to guesses. Kyle isn’t ready to talk about everything (much at all, really) back in Ohio. The stunt Mike pulls that sets everything in motion threatens their lives some, but it’s not clear how long-term. So many things unfold in Win Win like they do in life, often with a similar level of frustration. I enjoyed it so much anyway. Paul Giamatti and Amy Ryan give down-to-earth performances. They’re both at home in Mike and Jackie’s lives; you’ll believe them as a couple, and as people who would bring Kyle into their lives. As Kyle, Alex Shaffer is so un-kid-actorly I thought for sure he must just be this guy. The hair suits him, the tattoos look real, and he makes as credible a wrestler as Mickey Rourke. The wrestling part is true, but the rest is for the movie. Shaffer is a natural, and I hope he makes another movie. If not, he picked a gem for a one-off. Win Win was directed by Tom McCarthy, whose other movies, The Station Agent and The Visitor are so similarly cozy-bittersweet, they practically form a trilogy.

Fish Tank is another movie with a regular teen cast in a starring role as a seemingly troubled outsider. The difference: she really is an outsider, and she really is trouble. Mia (Katie Jarvis) looks like a thug, because she is one. She aspires to be a dancer in music videos (she breaks into a vacant apartment to practice her breakdancing), but doesn’t seem to have much ambition otherwise, unless it’s for fighting, drinking, or wearing the same outfit every day. She’s the kind of kid who doesn’t finish school, who sometimes doesn’t survive at all, without the intervention of a responsible adult. Mia doesn’t have that at home. Her mother comes across, in appearance and behavior, less like Mia’s parent than one of her peers (and Mia hates her peers). Her mother is a lazy party girl, rude, drunk and impatient. Her newest boyfriend, Connor, however, though intimidating and troubled in his own ways, sees some humanity in Mia, and inspires her to calm down, focus, and work on being a better person.

For, like, a day. Less than. Connor could never have wound up with Mia’s deadbeat mom if he was such a great guy, right? And Mia probably never would have wanted anything to do with him if he wasn’t going to inspire some kind of trouble in her, since negativity is the only thing that attracts her attention. Fish Tank has a startling realism, is bitterly funny, and contains a couple acts so shocking and unusual for a movie, that you might consider abandoning it before it’s over. As with Mike in Win Win, I was so taken with the performances in Fish Tank that I followed them through to the end. Michael Fassbender is especially good as Connor. He is charismatic, dangerous, funny and endearing. It’s no surprise a teenage girl would be drawn to him. He’s so good, and he’s giving the performance most actors think they’re giving, but hardly ever are. Dude is cool as a cucumber. He does something awful in Fish Tank, but I went with it, because he’s such a big, fat movie star, that I wanted to see what he’d do next, no matter if I agreed with it or not. Mia’s such a terror (although she’s funny at times too), that I was conflicted about how much Connor’s bad deeds against Mia mattered, as well as how warranted or not her revenge was. There’s a sliver of hope near the end; Connor and Mia might be okay, might have learned something, might stay away from her mother. Fish Tank is a challenging movie, but worth it. It might not be as heartwarming as Win Win, but how could it be? The deck is stacked with good parenting, warm meals, and bleachers full of cheering fans. If only it had Michael Fassbender. Could have added a third Win to the title.

Win Win: B+

Fish Tank: A