Alcoholic lows without the depths
By Christy Lemire |
October 21, 2012, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE title "Smashed" refers not so much to the nearly perpetual state of inebriation that a young husband and wife put themselves in but rather to the way the wife finds her existence truly shattered when she tries to get sober.
Staying at least slightly drunk all the time is easy, as Mary Elizabeth Winstead's character knows well. It's a blissfully ignorant existence, one big party. But once you stop drinking, the reality you've shoved aside returns with a vengeance.
This battle with the bottle is a frequent film topic, and "Smashed" deserves some credit for mostly avoiding the sort of histrionics that can be staples of the genre. Instead, director James Ponsoldt's film, from a script he co-wrote with Susan Burke, is understated to a fault. The bottom isn't low enough, the struggle isn't difficult enough, and the characters don't feel developed enough to provide necessary context for our heroine's journey.
"Smashed" is the rare movie that feels too short, too thin and it ends on an unsatisfying and rather unconvincing note, despite some recognizable, raw moments that preceded it.
Winstead ("Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World") gets to show the full range of her abilities, though, in her heaviest dramatic role yet. She stars as Kate Hannah, a first-grade teacher living in the culturally mixed, hipsterish Los Angeles neighborhood of Highland Park with her slacker writer husband, Charlie (Aaron Paul of "Breaking Bad"). When we first see her, she's waking up to her daily hangover, the edge of which she takes off with a beer in the shower.
Still a mess while teaching class - but functioning charismatically from her buzz - Kate suddenly vomits in front of her astonished students and tells a hasty lie to cover it up.
Vice principal, Dave (Nick Offerman), recognizes in Kate the traits of a fellow alcoholic and invites her to the low-key AA meeting he attends. There, she meets the warmly funny woman (Octavia Spencer) who becomes her sponsor.
And voila! Kate stops drinking. No withdrawal, no depression.
One year on, the obligatory rift develops with her still-raging husband; they fell in love getting hammered together, how could they possibly survive as a couple if only one of them is still drinking? Paul does what he can with an underwritten role: His character is depicted as little more than an immature, hard-partying trust-fund kid, so it's hard to feel emotionally invested.
Other supporting characters also lack definition, leaving only Winstead to dive headlong into all the highs and lows. She seems more game than the film itself is in exposing deeper truths.
Staying at least slightly drunk all the time is easy, as Mary Elizabeth Winstead's character knows well. It's a blissfully ignorant existence, one big party. But once you stop drinking, the reality you've shoved aside returns with a vengeance.
This battle with the bottle is a frequent film topic, and "Smashed" deserves some credit for mostly avoiding the sort of histrionics that can be staples of the genre. Instead, director James Ponsoldt's film, from a script he co-wrote with Susan Burke, is understated to a fault. The bottom isn't low enough, the struggle isn't difficult enough, and the characters don't feel developed enough to provide necessary context for our heroine's journey.
"Smashed" is the rare movie that feels too short, too thin and it ends on an unsatisfying and rather unconvincing note, despite some recognizable, raw moments that preceded it.
Winstead ("Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World") gets to show the full range of her abilities, though, in her heaviest dramatic role yet. She stars as Kate Hannah, a first-grade teacher living in the culturally mixed, hipsterish Los Angeles neighborhood of Highland Park with her slacker writer husband, Charlie (Aaron Paul of "Breaking Bad"). When we first see her, she's waking up to her daily hangover, the edge of which she takes off with a beer in the shower.
Still a mess while teaching class - but functioning charismatically from her buzz - Kate suddenly vomits in front of her astonished students and tells a hasty lie to cover it up.
Vice principal, Dave (Nick Offerman), recognizes in Kate the traits of a fellow alcoholic and invites her to the low-key AA meeting he attends. There, she meets the warmly funny woman (Octavia Spencer) who becomes her sponsor.
And voila! Kate stops drinking. No withdrawal, no depression.
One year on, the obligatory rift develops with her still-raging husband; they fell in love getting hammered together, how could they possibly survive as a couple if only one of them is still drinking? Paul does what he can with an underwritten role: His character is depicted as little more than an immature, hard-partying trust-fund kid, so it's hard to feel emotionally invested.
Other supporting characters also lack definition, leaving only Winstead to dive headlong into all the highs and lows. She seems more game than the film itself is in exposing deeper truths.
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