Stars: Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Bobby Cannavale, Jeffrey Tambor, Burt Young, Melanie Lynskey, Alex Shaffer
Running time: 106 mins
Rating: ****

THE production notes make Win Win sound like Lose Lose with its comments about writer-director Tom McCarthy exploring “the depths and nuances of humans relationships in his new film about the allegiances and bonds between unlikely characters”.

What we get is a delightfully quirky indie comedy with the wonderful Paul Giamatti in another of his hangdog roles as a downhearted member of the community trying to make something out of the mess he life has become.

He’s a small town attorney, Mike Flaherty, whose business is struggling but whose life takes a fresh turn thanks to his volunteer work as a high school wrestling coach.

By chance he comes across a star athlete Kyle (Alex Shaffer, in his acting debut) after formally offering to look after his ailing grandfather (Burt Young) because he needs the money being a carer will pay him.

Flaherty’s plan to put the old man in a home and pocket the cash goes wrong. Surrounding Flaherty is a wonderful gallery of misfits and eccentrics – his divorced friend (Bobby Cannavale), his business partner (Jeffrey Tambor and Alex’s absent mother (Melanie Lynskey). The only sane voice is all this is his wife Jacky (Amy Ryan).