Win Win (2011)

Just the simple act of describing the plot of Win Win sounds like a good solid way of spending your movie time- Paul Giamatti is a high-school wrestling coach and lawyer, who takes a teenage boy runaway under his wing, who happens to be a wrestling savant. If anything it's definitely sounds like a Paul Giamatti movie - you can just imagine what it'll be like in your head. Few laughs, few dramatic emotional moments and Bob's your brother's cousin. My main and only issue with the flick is that it's just not especially funny. In fact, it's very similar to Fox's other Sundance aquesition, Cedar Rapids- in that they gave away all the funniest bits in the trailer. But if you're less picky, unlike me, then there's a lot to like. I'm pretty happy to watch anything with Jeffrey Tambor and Bobby Carnivalle and they are great as the assistant coaches and Amy Ryan gets to practice her 'Nuy-Jousey' accent but it's definitely Giamatti's movie doing that introspective vaugely-dodgy nice-guy schtick, he does. The 2kids playing the young wrestler Kyle and his friend, Stemler- Alex Schafer and David Thomson, respectively are brilliant and act like old hands.
And the story/plot is fairly well-done. All the characters are identifiable and likeable; even the characters of Kyle's mother and her lawyer played by accomplished comedy actresses Melanie Lyndsky and Margo Martindale who are the antagonists, are pretty understandable and maybe even forgivable in spite of their choices and their actions are just a lil less ethical than the rest. So you have to give actor/writer/director Tom MaCarthy for making such a light, even-handed yarn but it doesn't really stretch any further than that really but if it turned up from LoveFilm or you caught it at 9.35pm on a Sunday on BBC2 in a few years, it wouldn't be pretty okay...
I watched Win Win (2011) at the cinema.
My 2011 in Movies will return with Black Narcissus (1947)....

Barney's Version (2010)

Barney's Version is a big slice of Paul Giamatti pie, for all those who hoped it would be. 
It's sad it hasn't got more play here or America but then i can see why it's hard to sell- there's no really starry in it and the story is convoluted as shit.
Broadly put, it's about a guy who gets married 3times-first, outta misplaced duty; second time for security and finally, because he's found the love of his life. Now that's all Heartbreak Kid and dandy but it's told in a non-linear fashion and there's a murder mystery too (?!)... As you may have guessed Barney's Version only suffers from one thing- story- it's got way too many plates spinning at the same time. I looked at my watch expecting the film was concluding soon only to realise that only an hour had passed and there was an hour to go. It's got as much as a 4hour mini-series crammed into 2hours. 
I'm not going to say it's too long because this is good stuff but after the first hour, you kinda want a break.
Why? Because it's adapted from a prolific book and this is a common problem with film adaptations of literature. Film-makers seem to think they've got to pack it all in, whether it be for the fans of the book or to do 'justice' to the piece and they don't necessarily. I think there should be a sliding scale- if it's a book you could read in 2-3hours like say
Elmore Leonard's Out Of Sight- fine- adapt everything on the page but when you come too something like Watchmen, that's been slavishly-adapted it's too much for 2-3hours because Watchmen takes longer than that to read. It's a very dense book as is i'd imagine Barney's Version.
Perhaps-unfair-aimed-gripe-at-very-good-film over. It is stocked with great actors doing sterling work delivering great crisp dialogue. Giamatti is really good here in a meaty 3-ages-of-man role. Minnie Driver excels as his jewish-princess middle wife. Dustin Hoffman is incredibly funny in this as Giamatti's father. He's in it quite a bit too- It's no extended cameo. A great surprise about this movie is that it's quite Canadian- set mostly in Montreal, it features some great in-jokes on Canadian culture from silly director cameos. I could tell you why their funny but it wouldn't be funny if i had to explain, would it? Let's just say there are 2bits which would be akin to say, Mike Leigh in a mullet wig directing Footballer's Wives.
I also have issues with the ending and the fact that the comedy doesn't meld with the drama. There are lots of really funny moments but then there'll be cloying scenes of drama too- which is not to say you can't have a comedy drama- i love comedy dramas but here they mix like oil and water.
I'd imagine that this all seems like quite conflicting information.
Is it Giamatti's finest hour? Could be.
Is it worth watching? Yes.
But this would have been killer as a HBO mini-series.


I watched Barney's Version (2010) at the cinema.
My 2011 in Movies will return with The Secret of Kells (2010)...