Smashed
3/4
Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Aaron Paul, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, Octavia Spencer, Mary Kay Place
Rated R for Alcohol Abuse, Language, Some Sexual Content and Brief Drug Use
Addiction movies are a dime a dozen. The topic so relevant (and always will be), and there are so many different directions that one can take to explore it. "Once Were Warriors" used it as a way to explore how it can turn a nice person into a monster. "When A Man Loves A Woman" showed how it can strain a marriage (not very well, as it happens). "Smashed" does a little of both, although without the intensity of the former and the mawkishness of the latter. This is a story that, for 75% of the film, feels honest and real.
Kate (Winstead) and Charlie (Paul) are a happily married couple who are in love with booze as they are with each other. But lately, Kate has been feeling as if her life is spiraling out of control. She wakes up for work to discover that she has wet the bed during the night. She offers (if one can call it that) a woman a ride home and ends up smoking crack. She vomits in front of her class and lies that she's pregnant. She tries to slow down, but that doesn't last very long. Eventually, a co-worker of hers (Offerman) realizes that she's an alcoholic and when she decides to get sober, he takes her to a meeting. But getting sober isn't easy, especially if your husband is still living like a college student and partying all night and every night.
The performances by Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Aaron Paul sell the film. I could see that, with a different cast, this film wouldn't be nearly as effective or interesting. Both of them are low-key, but realistic. They're so realistic that it's hard to believe that they are actors. In this small of a film, that's an asset as opposed to heavy dramatics a la Daniel Day Lewis circa "Gangs of New York." Winstead plays a woman who's forced to keep lying, even as she gets sober, and the AA mantra of living honestly has a price. That struggle makes her life even more difficult than it already is. Aaron Paul has an equally difficult role. He's an alcoholic too, but he doesn't realize it, nor does he understand what "being sober" means. He feels as if he's lost his best friend. But he does love Kate, although that may not be enough. Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally (as the principal at Kate's school) provide solid support as well.
Co-writer and director James Ponsoldt directs this film with a sure hand. Up until the final act, he doesn't push the material or his actors. He keeps things realistic, and therein lies it's power. Sadly, the film nearly implodes on its way to the finish line. It's not what happens (from a storytelling perspective, it makes sense), but how it's handled. I never believed that the characters would act like this, and there are a number of glaring contrivances.
Still, the performances of Winstead and Paul are strong enough that, for all its flaws, make "Smashed" a movie worth seeing.
Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Aaron Paul, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, Octavia Spencer, Mary Kay Place
Rated R for Alcohol Abuse, Language, Some Sexual Content and Brief Drug Use
Addiction movies are a dime a dozen. The topic so relevant (and always will be), and there are so many different directions that one can take to explore it. "Once Were Warriors" used it as a way to explore how it can turn a nice person into a monster. "When A Man Loves A Woman" showed how it can strain a marriage (not very well, as it happens). "Smashed" does a little of both, although without the intensity of the former and the mawkishness of the latter. This is a story that, for 75% of the film, feels honest and real.
Kate (Winstead) and Charlie (Paul) are a happily married couple who are in love with booze as they are with each other. But lately, Kate has been feeling as if her life is spiraling out of control. She wakes up for work to discover that she has wet the bed during the night. She offers (if one can call it that) a woman a ride home and ends up smoking crack. She vomits in front of her class and lies that she's pregnant. She tries to slow down, but that doesn't last very long. Eventually, a co-worker of hers (Offerman) realizes that she's an alcoholic and when she decides to get sober, he takes her to a meeting. But getting sober isn't easy, especially if your husband is still living like a college student and partying all night and every night.
The performances by Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Aaron Paul sell the film. I could see that, with a different cast, this film wouldn't be nearly as effective or interesting. Both of them are low-key, but realistic. They're so realistic that it's hard to believe that they are actors. In this small of a film, that's an asset as opposed to heavy dramatics a la Daniel Day Lewis circa "Gangs of New York." Winstead plays a woman who's forced to keep lying, even as she gets sober, and the AA mantra of living honestly has a price. That struggle makes her life even more difficult than it already is. Aaron Paul has an equally difficult role. He's an alcoholic too, but he doesn't realize it, nor does he understand what "being sober" means. He feels as if he's lost his best friend. But he does love Kate, although that may not be enough. Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally (as the principal at Kate's school) provide solid support as well.
Co-writer and director James Ponsoldt directs this film with a sure hand. Up until the final act, he doesn't push the material or his actors. He keeps things realistic, and therein lies it's power. Sadly, the film nearly implodes on its way to the finish line. It's not what happens (from a storytelling perspective, it makes sense), but how it's handled. I never believed that the characters would act like this, and there are a number of glaring contrivances.
Still, the performances of Winstead and Paul are strong enough that, for all its flaws, make "Smashed" a movie worth seeing.
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