![]() Win-Win takes an “okay” storyline and turns it into the most surprisingly entertaining 90 or so minutes you’ll encounter. You can get poetic with the outcome if you like – super. It’s just what the kid does and high school wrestling served its purpose as the link between the two main characters. There is no parallel story being told about sidestepping the odds. But you’ll take it and you want to know why? Because this might be the one instance where wrestling actually makes a film about something else better. A little “movie-ish” with the tosses and what not. Of course, his single mother is back home white-trashing it up with a boyfriend, neglecting poor Kyle’s sensibilities, thus thrusting him across a few states to find Leo (once again, the script had to find some reason for Kyle to be a factor). Shaffer perfectly played a laid-back, monotone teen who looks kind of like a burn-out and smokes cigarettes no less, but also turns into a destroyer on the mat. ![]() Give credit to casting, give credit to Shaffer, whomever. So director Tom McCarthy, who was a wrestler himself, nailed that shit down. Kyle is played by Alex Shaffer, an actual legitimate stud who took home an NJSIAA state title for Hunterdon Central THE YEAR BEFORE THE FILM CAME OUT. “Okay Kyle, I probably shouldn’t be here.” After Kyle appears and Mike has no idea what to do with him (aside from putting him up in his basement being the all-around swell guy that he is), the kid follows the coach into the practice room one random day and basically annihilates his partners. He took second in the Ohio states so naturally, he’s not just good, but a super-freak whose opponents from the Garden State are no match. This sets up perfectly for Leo’s grandson, Kyle, to come all the way from Ohio out of nowhere to see what’s up with his grandfather, despite not really knowing him. While this program has never exactly been a powerhouse, the movie script called for it to be especially scrubby, which makes sense if a guy like Mike Flaherty is in charge and Jeffrey Tambor (“Hank Kingsley” from the best TV show ever, The Larry Sanders Show) is the assistant. In between taking advantage of elderly folks struggling with memory loss, Mike also happens to be the head wrestling coach for New Providence High School, a very real place in Union County, New Jersey. So Mike tells the court he can care for Leo but puts Leo in a home anyway, because really, dealing with Burt Young in large doses is just too much for most people apparently. Mike needs that money because his law practice is struggling and his wife is deftly kept in the dark about her husband’s professional ineptitude. But here’s the thing: Leo’s caretaker is awarded $1,500 a month through his estate. Leo doesn’t want to leave his home, he wants to stay put and watch his 13″ black and white television while eating crackers. Win-Win is more about a lawyer, Mike Flaherty (played by the always-awesome Paul Giamatti) who swoops in to save Leo (Burt Young, hilariously enough), a senior citizen battling some sort of dementia, old-aged-ness, or what have you, from having to leave his home to enter the care of the state. The only reason this film doesn’t make it higher up on the list is because it’s sort of not about wrestling. The whole “backdrop” issue is at play. The Top 5 Amateur Wrestling Movies Of All Time Also – we’re not focusing on documentaries, so please save your Dan Gable SportsCentury complaints. But if you disagree, fret not: chances are, someone on our side of the fence feels your pain. We should note that while this list is not all that serious, we do stand by any reasoning for a movie’s inclusion. But wrestling? More specifically, amateur wrestling? The well is pretty dry.Įven despite that, there are enough of them out there that deserve some mentioning. Sure, football has plenty, boxing always translates to cinema very well, and even baseball and basketball show up on the big screen. For one, there’s just not enough of them.
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