Smashed (2012)

April 5, 2015 12:30 AM

A married couple whose bond is built on a mutual love of alcohol gets their relationship put to the test when the wife decides to get sober.
posted by Gin and Broadband (6 comments total)

I wanted to watch this after finding out that Winstead is a distant relative of my beloved Ava Gardner (Winstead's grandfather was Ava's cousin). See the resemblance. Gardner was an alcoholic, which added an extra layer of poignancy to a great leading performance. All the acting was excellent - nice to see Offerman and Mullally in straight roles, and I had forgotten how heart-stoppingly beautiful Octavia Spencer is.

What struck me was how on the surface Kate was everything I spent my twenties wanting to be: beautiful, with an adoring partner, in a job she rocks, partying all the time and surrounded by cool friends, making it look effortless. I've known a few drunks and addicts with that similar golden glow of charisma. For me that helped make the fake pregnancy storyline work, Principal Barnes (Mullally) reacting to that as much as anything.

It hits all the beats that the typical drinking movie does, but offhand I can't think of any other examples with a young female protagonist.
posted by Gin and Broadband at 12:44 AM on April 5, 2015

I thought that Dave was a complete slimeball and didn't understand why Kate would want anything to do with him after

SPOILER:


He told her that he wanted her "moist pussy" Shouldn't AA crack down on this when it happens?
posted by brujita at 12:24 PM on April 5, 2015

I loved this movie.
Great acting throughout, and one of the very few movies that I will say this about: I wish it was longer. It's only like 80 minutes long and I could would like to follow these characters in their world for a bit longer. the fake pregnancy thing really struck a chord as a shitty lie that someone would get stuck in, but people generally don't stop there and will have 4 or 5 things like that going at once. Which of course will all come crashing down at the same time.
posted by dogwalker at 5:39 PM on April 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

I liked the Dave thing, actually. This is the kind of chaos that surrounds her in her life. Who knew things could be so fucked up at an elementary school? There's only one person who is really interested in helping her, and even he turns out to be doing it for messed up reasons. She responds to that horrible comment with strength instead of using it as an excuse to start drinking again.

She doesn't really have anyone. Her mother is too dependent on her to be disinterested, as well as being a fellow addict. Her husband is fine as long as things go exactly as they have been; he lords it over her with his independent wealth and tells people she did crack. Where is the smart girlfriend to tell her she needs help? She just has no one so she has to make do with this guy until she can meet some other people.

As far as AA cracking down, I don't think they do. At least, no one in a meeting would have the authority to. What that guy did, albeit in a spectacularly gross way, is so common there is a term for it-- 13th stepping.
posted by BibiRose at 6:36 AM on April 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

I really wanted more of Jenny and Kate's interactions - they got lost in the montage, and I feel like Kate would have gone to Jenny after the Dave Incident.
posted by Gin and Broadband at 10:25 AM on April 6, 2015

Nick Offerman why you gotta be like that ugggghhhhh.
posted by kat518 at 12:25 PM on April 21, 2015