Smashed
Crit
I'm not quite sure why this is so effective--there's nothing in the treatment of alcoholism that we haven't seen a million times before, from silly charm to sloppy (and sleepy) sex to embarrassing release of bodily fluids to lies, lies, lies to the death of careers and relationships to the testimonies of the 12-step-program. And yet somehow it seems fresh, credit to director James Ponsoldt and his cowriter Susan Burke, and to Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Aaron Paul as the title couple, happily married, happily drunk. Until Kate is not.Even the dynamic of the drinking couple who split on the issue of stopping has a long history, but maybe every drunken unhappy family is drunkenly unhappy in its own way. As is hammered home when she comes home hammered late on, Kate's thirst for Charlie's love is as desperate as--and inextricably intertwined with--her thirst for whiskey. (By the way, am I the only one who finds it a false note whenever an experienced drinker in a movie asks for "whiskey" at a bar? That's like asking for "food" at a restaurant--there are so many choices; wouldn't she want Basil Hayden's or Glenmorangie 18-year or even Jack Daniel's?)
Painful, true.
Trailers
- Stand Up Guys--Pacino as the hood just out of a long stretch in the joint, Walken as his best friend, and the guy whose job it is to put him down. Could be great.
- De rouille et d'os (Rust and bone)--Maybe the orca ate your baby. Or Marion Cotillard's legs.
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