Not as sublime and uplifting one as his two earlier indies ‘The Station Agent’ or ‘The Visitor’, this
third film of Director Tom McCarthy is nevertheless nice feel good film where
drama and comedy comes from an embarrassing fix of characters' ups and downs of
life. A struggling lawyer and a part time wrestling coach Mike Flaherty in
order to get monthly paycheques double cross the court to get the guardianship
of his client suffering from dementia. Kyle, a weird teenage grandson who hates
his mother suddenly visits his grandpa and proves out as promising wrestler for
the Mike’s sucking team. As Kyle becomes a welcome member of Mike’s family, his
mom returns from rehab to get guardianship of his dad and son. Paul is back to
struggle now, more to cover his embarrassing bet.
This is the kind of film that slowly takes you in stride towards the plot and the characters. And just like
his earlier films McCarthy successfully gets something out of each character here
whether it’s fine underdog actors like Paul Giamatti and Amy Ryan or a real
life New Jersey under eighteen wrestling champion teenager named Alex Shaffer
as Kyle in his well nuanced debut performance. The humor and drama in some parts seems so spontaneous and in some seems inflated one. I think I would have appreciated
the film better if the ending was more refined one instead of just routine
happy wind up highlighting the title. As I said earlier compared to McCarthy’s
earlier indies this one seems to cliché and average but nevertheless
interesting enough to watch one time for its story telling and characters.
Ratings-6.5/10
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