On the couch

DVD REVIEW

Contagion **
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh.
Starring: Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet.

Win Win *****
Directed by: Thomas McCarthy.
Starring: Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Alex Shaffer, Bobby Cannavale, Jeffrey Tambor.

IMAGINE a collection of sketches about a deadly, civilisation-threatening virus put together by a dramatic troupe composed primarily of accountants, undertakers and paint drying oversight technicians (guess what they do for a living?). What you’d get from such a creative super team is probably a bit more fun than Contagion.
Looking at the cast would make you think of a different sort of super team however. If you were to judge this particular book by its cover, you could reasonably expect a shining pillar of cinematic excellence. Lawrence Fishburn, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Brian Cranston and Elliot Gould all grace the screen at one stage or other but none offer more of an impact than a living-impaired member of The Walking Dead cast.
Documenting the immediate aftermath of the start of a pandemic, Stephen Soderbergh’s disaster flick takes a cross section of people (from the husband and daughter of the first reported case in America to the head of CDC, to a scientist trying to crack the viral code and manufacture a cure) and attempts to do for world-ending illness what another of his films, Traffic, did for the war on drugs.
Unfortunately while Traffic featured three distinct, interesting and well-acted storylines that occasionally crossed over, Contagion is just a bunch of boring stuff that happens to a mini-van full of people that you, probably, recognise from other films; films you actually enjoyed. Too many plotlines are taken on but none are allowed enough room to grow for us to start caring about the characters or issues involved. While the overarching idea that “This is a very bad thing” is made early and efficiently, there’s very little else to keep you watching.
There are interesting nuggets here and there. The likely manner in which governments would deal with such an incident is chillingly fascinating (lesson to be learned: we’re all screwed) and speed with which actual scientific progress moves when pitted against an active and paranoid internet rumour mill is also a cause for wincing concern (lesson to be learned: seriously, we’re all screwed). Sadly, these nuggets are all just glimmering specks in a river of boring, self-important slurry.
As a side note – the efforts made to make Jude Law look a little more like a deluded, morally bankrupt online tabloid oik were laughable. Taking a professionally good-looking actor and slapping some dodgy fake teeth in his gob do not a ginormo-nerd make. It’s just one of the annoyingly slapdash bits of an overall badly conceived flick.
At the other end of the scale and quality spectrum comes Win Win, an artfully constructed feelgood flick that manages to touch on subjects as diverse as wrestling (the Olympic one, not the Hulk Hogan one), teenage delinquency and midlife crisis in smalltown America.
Paul Giamatti stars as Mike Flaherty, a father, lawyer and wrestling coach barely managing to keep his head above water as his business dwindles and bills mount.
In an effort to make a few extra shekels, he takes on the guardianship of an elderly client but ends up having to take responsibility for a lot more than a monthly cheque when the old man’s grandson lands on his doorstep unannounced.
It’s quickly revealed that the young fella, Kyle (Alex Shaffer) has run away from home after his mother lands herself in drug rehab and her boyfriend takes a swing at him. What starts as an overnight stay becomes a few days, then a few weeks and the polite but taciturn teen becomes more a part of the Flaherty family.
He also reveals himself to be a bit of a wrestling prodigy – a massive boost for Mike’s team of hapless high school grapplers. His fate and that of the team start to look up as soon as he laces up his gym shoes and talk of college scholarships and championships begin in earnest.
Of course all this happy-happy fun-time would get pretty boring, pretty fast if a bit of drama wasn’t injected into the situation and it comes in the form of Kyle’s mom, who may or may not be a money-grubbing auld wagon or an honestly repentant ex-junkie.
There’s a couple of things that keep Win Win from falling victim to the typical family drama schmaltz that could have seen this as a movie of the week on the Hallmark Channel.
First up is the story. Nothing runs smooth in the world of Mike and Kyle and there’s no perfect characters serving as a lightning rod for all our hopes and dreams. Giamatti’s lead is a nice but flawed guy willing to do anything for his family. He’s not perfect and he doesn’t claim to be. Kyle’s talent for tackling, grappling and wrapping folk into interesting pretzel shapes comes from a place of anger and, while he’s obviously a good, well-intentioned kid 99% of the time, Shaffer never lets the audience forget that there’s 1% in there that ain’t all that wholesome.
Both performances are quite brilliant, particularly Shaffer’s given the quantity of dialogue he has to work with.
Also marking the film out as something special are the supporting cast including  Mike’s buddies Terry (Bobby Cannevale) and Stephen (Jeffery Tambour) and his missus, Jackie (Amy Ryan) to Kyle’s weirdo mate Stemler (David W Thompson) and his granddad Leo (Burt Young). All are believable, all are slightly broken and all have lives that stretch way beyond the bounds of the world of Win Win.
The hardest thing to do, in fact, is classify the flick. It’s laugh out loud funny at times (mostly thanks to Cannevale, Tambour and the young Thompson, who comes across like an even geekier McLovin) but it’s far from a comedy and it’s too sporty for a drama and too dramatic for a sports flick. What it is, for certain, is wonderful. It tells a good story really, really well and does so without trying to over-reach.
The economy isn’t addressed in sub-text, there aren’t any subtle pot-shots at the Government. Just some normal people dealing with some unusual circumstances and warming some heart cockles in the process.