Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2012

People ask me what makes a good movie. Well, those that make me laugh, make me cry and make me think. Thomas McCarthy’s films, which include 2003’s The Station Agent and 2007’s The Visitor, do that. His modest gems are about accidental families; relationships among flawed characters that are not sought but end up being enriching and revitalizing. In his latest, the wonderful Paul Giamatti plays Mike Flaherty, a struggling New Jersey lawyer and volunteer coach of a generally awful, last-place high school wrestling team. To help make ends meet, he takes the ethically questionable step of becoming the guardian of a doddering old man for the $1,500 it will pay him, and then turns around and puts the guy in a retirement home. What he doesn’t foresee is the appearance of the man’s 16-year-old grandson Kyle (Alex Shaffer, unpolished but naturally convincing), fleeing his drug-addled mother. Mike and his wife Jackie (Amy Ryan) temporarily take in the lad, who fortuitously enough turns out to be a gifted wrestler. This sweet, keenly observed, off-center dramedy is low-key almost to a fault, but it’s unforced, full of spirit and heart, and it doesn’t cheat.