For many reasons, I wanted to see "Smashed." Aaron Paul is one of my favorite parts of Breaking Bad, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead was fun to watch in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. As well, stories about alcoholism intrigue me. I enjoy reading about people who lose themselves to their addictions. It's sad and painful to watch, and I guess that's a part of why I like watching these tenuous tales.
"Smashed" is about Kate and Charlie. They are a "happily" married couple (the word happily is in quotes because they are constantly drunk, which causes them to be on emotional roller coasters with each other and themselves, and their happiness seems more of a drunken stupor than actual happiness). Kate is the more out-of-control alcoholic of the two. She drinks to excess constantly, and even when she throws up in front of her entire first grade class, she continues to drink. After a few more scary incidents, including waking up in a dirty alley, smoking crack, wetting the bed, and urinating in the middle of a liquor store, Kate sees that her drinking is completely out of control.
Kate is invited to AA meetings by her Vice Principal, played by Nick Offerman. Her principal believes that she is pregnant based on what Kate has accidentally told her class after throwing up in front of them. Kate begins going to meetings, and learns that she needs to live her life honestly, because things just aren't working. She gets sober, and gains some clarity. She works very hard at being sober, a job made more difficult by Charlie's unwillingness to really support Kate in her endeavor. Their relationship is truly built on mutual love of alcohol, and when Kate takes that away, Charlie doesn't know what to do with her.
In a very sad scene, Kate is fired from her teaching job when she confesses that she was never pregnant to her principal, played by Megan Mullally. As expected, this loss sends Kate into a tailspin, and her first stop upon cleaning out her classroom, is to a dirty bar, where she orders whiskey doubles. We are sad for Kate, but at least at this point, she has sponsors from her meeting who come to her rescue.
When Kate gets home, she is out-of-control drunk, and as is wont with an alcoholic, she wants to drink more. She scours the house for more alcohol, but Charlie, who is sober for the first time, tries to get Kate to drink water or coffee. At this point, in his sobriety, he sees that Kate truly has a serious issue with alcohol. Kate then realizes that staying with Charlie is bad for her sobriety, and we are left with a very sad parting. When Kate returns to AA after the backslide, she says something very poignant: "Alcoholism is a disease that lies in wait for you, and picks up where you left off." This is why alcoholics can not drink for two months, and then the next time they drink, they're curling up in a ball on the sidewalk again. Alcoholics can never be social drinkers. And Kate realizes this in this scene.
There are some very interesting details to the film. Kate's wardrobe appears homeless and frumpy, and Kate and Charlie's house is a mess all the time, as neither of them seem to care about house cleaning. Their sheets and pillowcases are mismatched, which drives me crazy. They just seem to care very little about the aesthetics of their lives, they only care about their alcohol, and getting more and more.
We have all had relationships like this, either early in our lives, when we can afford to be reckless, or later on, when we can't. Alcoholism is a very interesting disease. I truly believe that some people are more genetically disposed to alcoholism, but I also believe that it can happen to anyone. And nobody starts out that way. Nobody starts out drinking a fifth of vodka a night, alcoholics build up to that. After awhile, alcoholics can't get drunk, so they binge to feel the effects, and then end up in vastly dangerous situations. I can't imagine needing to drink, nor allowing myself to be in the situations we see Kate get into. But I have seen alcoholism take hold of some of the closest people to me, and at least Kate had enough sense to go and get some help.
No comments:
Post a Comment