Simply Smashing

I think because I've been starved for new episodes of Breaking Bad for a year now, I decided to watch the movie Smashed to attempt to fill in the gap. Starring Aaron Paul (who plays Jesse on Breaking Bad) and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, it's the story of young married couple that boozes it up to the extreme every single night, and damn the consequences. At least, until one night when the wife's binge drinking leads her to throw up in front of the class of young kids she teaches, and she covers by claiming she's pregnant. Realizing she's gone too far, she tries to quit alcohol entirely, which puts a serious strain on her marriage when her husband does not.

It's a tight little 90-minute indie movie, and bears the hallmarks you expect of such films. The acting is very, very good -- not just from the two actors I mentioned, but from an unconventional cast of supporting actors. Despite this film being a very serious drama, many of the roles are filled by performers best known for comedy. The school principal is played by Megan Mullally (of Will and Grace), while the vice principal -- a recovering alcoholic himself -- is played by Nick Offerman (of Parks and Recreation). I'm not the sort of person who often pigeonholes an actor into comedy or drama, but I was still surprised to see how deftly these two handled their roles in this film.

But another hallmark of these kinds of indie films is that they can be a bit dull at times. Smashed bears this mark too. There's very little to this story other than the splintering relationships of the characters. Despite the seriousness of the alcoholism subject matter, it simply drags in more than a few places. It feels as though the plot is heading to one inevitable place... and wouldn't you know it, it does.

Since I saw another movie about alcoholism not long ago, Flight, it's hard not to think of that movie and compare it to this one. In that comparison, at least, Smashed comes out far ahead. It doesn't promise anything it doesn't deliver, and the film allows room for more than one actor to take the spotlight and deliver a good performance.

If acting-driven movies aren't your thing, though, there's nothing here for you. I'd give Smashed a C-.