Nobody plays a loser better than Giamatti, and he gets plenty to dig into in this film reuniting him with his ‘Sideways’ director Alexander Payne.
There are actors who are unafraid to look foolish or petty in roles, who lean in to being unlikable onscreen when the mood strikes, who might slum it by occasionally sporting an unflattering haircut or reading glasses. And then there is 55-year-old Giamatti, who seems to effortlessly slip into maximum sad-sack mode at a moment’s notice. He’s an artist who can make a symphony out of playing 12 different notes of pathetic, and make every dissonant suite sound natural.
One soul is a little more hopelessly lost than the others, however, and that’s the role assigned to the Oscar nominee.
But back to the actors, who actually make that voice feel vital. Sessa may be the most inexperienced of the three, but he has an appealing rawness about him that feels suited to Angus; this is a kid who’s learned that life doesn’t hand you everything on a silver platter, even if you’re used to eating on them. There’s something unfinished about this young man, which this first-timer gloms onto in a way that feels organic.
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