Smashed

Kate (played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is an alcoholic. "I guess," she adds in her first AA meeting. When is that word appropriate? When you answer 'yes' to a series of questions in a pamphlet? When one beer escalates into twenty? When your husband becomes blase to you wetting the bed? When you tell your first grade class you're pregnant because you've just thrown up in front of all of them? Drinking makes Kate happy and interesting and charming. It numbs her just enough to survive the day and provides the majority of the entertainment for her nights.

But sometimes the memories aren't the quaint misadventures she would have them be, and she realizes she's starting to scare herself. Luckily, for her and for us, she has two ready players willing to help her along her recovery process, Dave and Jenny. Dave (played by Nick Offerman) works at the same school as Kate and invites her to AA. Jenny (played by Octavia Spencer) becomes her sponsor. Both provide honest advice and support and add gentle humor to a fellow comrade.

Aaron Paul plays Charlie, Kate's husband. It should be noted that even with severe Jesse Pinkman goggles on, I was happy to find that Charlie is not Jesse. Charlie asks Kate if they're supposed to become "wine with dinner" people and it becomes quickly apparent that a sober Kate may not mean the sunniest marriage. The cast, (including Mary Kay Place as Kate's mother and Megan Mullally as the principal of Kate's school) support the already strong script with the right mix of humor and pathos. Ug, I hate that word. What's a less cloying word for pathos? Ahem. Kudos to director, James Ponsoldt and co-writer, Susan Burke for a movie that is balanced with effective non sequiturs and subtle but engaging performances.

I like that sobriety isn't the magical wand that Kate thought it would be. New problems replace old ones and this time she has to face them without the bleary eyes of her favorite companion. Smashed is the kind of story I love. Those quiet snapshots of a person's life when all pretenses are taken away and you find yourself happy to have survived at all. And a little sad too.