Paul Giamatti, left, Clare Foley II and Amy Ryan in a scene from Win Win. (Kimberly Wright/Fox Searchlight/Associated Press)

Like director Thomas McCarthy's previous Oscar-nominated film The Visitor, Win Win focuses on what happens when two unrelated characters connect.

First there's Mike, a small town lawyer, so affable he's practically the mayor. But in a familiar motif of 2011, behind the handshakes and smiles Mike is sinking in middle-class quicksand. His law office is breaking down, the furnace clanks, the photocopier doesn't copy and Mike can't juggle bills fast enough to keep the money flowing.

Then there's young Kyle played by newcomer Alex Shaffer who arrives in a messy shock of blond hair and string of one-syllable answers. Kyle's on the run from his mother's drug habit and is looking to crash at his grandpa's place. But under the shoe-gazing exterior, there is a gladiator. Kyle is a wrestler, and a damn good one.

A wrestling star played by Alex Shaffer, left, turns up on Paul Giamatti's wrestling team. (Fox Searchlight)

Mike, played by Paul Giamatti, happens to be a wrestling coach. The appearance of this natural born grappler on his high school team of schlubs changes things. Suddenly there's a whiff of hope in the air. It's the butterfly effect, the ripple of random happenstance. A signature of director Tom McCarthy's movies.

What you won't find in McCarthy's movies is a strong cinematic style. No Paul Thomas Anderson visual flourishes here. That's not a dig at McCarthy - it's just that for this director the cinematography, the soundtrack and the script are all tools to frame those oh-so human moments:

• Amy Ryan as Mike's funny and furious wife vibrating with violence over the mistreatment of Kyle.

• The strange comical connection between Kyle and Mike's younger daughter.

• And finally the eagerness of Mike's friend Terry (in a scene-stealing performance by Bobby Cannavale), who becomes an assistant coach, fighting over the stopwatch with sullen Jeffrey Tambor (Is there any other kind?)

In Win Win, events spiral out of control, Mike's schemes and dreams of financial security flounder, but the action and the comedy always come from a natural place. The humour is closer to the painful sweetness of the Duplass brothers rather than the typical in-your-face style of the Farrelly brothers.

For connoisseurs of comedy the gentle pleasures of Win Win can't be beat. Win Win is a Goldilocks film: Not too small, not too big, but just right.

RATING: Four jolly Paul Giamatti heads out of five.