My personal trilogy exploring the solo movies of the three main Breaking Bad stars ends with a “smashing” surprise! A realistic, honest, brilliant, tough existentially brutal, independent movie about alcoholism!
This time I was chasing Aaron Paul’s filmography and couldn’t find anything worth a watch (for my taste I mean). I was going to fall for Need for Speed, but I was afraid it could be a mash-up between Breaking Bad and Fast&Furious. I love that game and I’ve already seen too many disappointing films extracted from video games.
I just allowed myself to click on Smashed. The title was telling me that it was some stupid action comedy or some lesser-known Dodgeball. Thank goodness, it was a semi-biographical jewel written by comedian Susan Burke about her struggle with quitting drinking.
I think that most people in the West can relate to alcoholism at some degree, including myself. Alcohol is still the drug #1 in our society. Not only alcohol isn’t forbidden (like other much less harmful drugs), but it’s still encouraged. Drinking is seen as the first step into adulthood. Drinking is the symbol of celebration. It’s the solemn act to seal friendships, romances, and even business deals. If you don’t drink you can’t have fun, you can’t have friends, you can’t do stupid stuff, you can’t get laid, you can’t succeed…
In the core, we all know this is all bullshit, but… we keep drinking!
Luckily, I’ve never been addicted to alcohol, but I can’t deny there was a period in my life when I was holding a whole bottle instead of a glass. The first 3 years in Malta have been the most alcoholic period of my life. Drinking for me meant to belong, a feeling I had never experienced properly in Italy. Drinking meant to discover, to let go of brakes, to do stupid stuff and not get angry at it, to build crazy stories to tell. However, there was always a voice which guided me, a flame of rationality which always reminded me that I didn’t need alcohol to experience all of the above. This voice was so smart to highlight every single sober night that turned great. I soon the discovered the beautiful paradox: the best nights were the sober nights!
I didn’t quit drinking, but kept alcohol within strict limits. Drinking quality, not quantity. You can imagine when the others noticed my reticence to fill in my glass. From the classic “What’s wrong with you?”, to meaner jokes like “Are you pregnant? How old are you? 12? Ah, I understand, drinking is for real men!”
The truth is that who needs alcohol is freaking insecure and as such they try to spread their insecurity to you. If you don’t share their fears, you automatically become a threat, a threat to destroy (at least socially).
This is the kind of challenge Kate (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) will have to face when she announces to her alcoholic husband Charlie (Aaron Paul) that she’s staying sober while attending Alcoholics Anonymous. At first Charlie is amused, because he doesn’t believe his wife can resist long. Things crack though when Kate shows a surprising persistence and gets closer and closer to her AA friends.
Let me spoil something more, because in Smashed, the plot is not really important. What’s important is the portrait of how alcohol abuse affects people’s behaviour. A portrait that is free from the classic clichés you see in mainstream movies. How would Hollywood have described Kate and Charlie’s story?
Oh, Kate is an irresponsible school teacher who drinks all day, until she throws in front of her class. This is the final straw. Kate’s colleague Dave invites her to an AA meeting. After a positive first meeting, Kate is determined to quit drinking.
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This is indeed how the movie actually starts, but Hollywood would have rolled the plot very differently. For Hollywood, this journey would have meant showing some overdramatic on-off setback, with Dave getting closer and closer to Kate, until the two fall in love. Charlie gets more and more suspicious. AA is not the problem, he’s losing his wife because of another man. Charlie discovers the affair and big drama, jealousy, and a big fight scene erupt. Kate rejects Dave’s courtship and goes to live with her mother for a break of introspection.
To make things worse, Kate confesses to her school principal that she’s been an alcoholic. The principal decides to suspend her.
Dave hasn’t given up on Kate yet. He’s determined to track Kate down to her mother, where a moving love declaration takes place. Kate starts to think about it.
In the end, Kate returns to Charlie for a final, tear-busting confrontation and their marriage comes to an end.
Broken in tears, Kate receives a phone call from Dave, asking her to come to school to discuss something important. Surprise! The principal has heard Dave’s story and decided to reintegrate Kate in her job! Dave can finally kiss Kate. And they lived happy and sober! THE END!
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The real Smash though works without these clichés and gives a realistic picture of two young married folks who see their marriage falling apart as one of the two embraces a new lifestyle. Kate doesn’t leave Charlie for another man, but for another lifestyle. There is no love affair going on, no theatrical plot-twist and Kate won’t even be rewarded for sharing the truth with her boss. She will be fired, but thanks to her AA friends she’s still able to see the long term good karma that quitting alcohol can generate. This mindset allows Kate to blow the 1 year sober candle over the cake offered by her AA mates.
This is the most important message from Smashed. Changing takes time, efforts, sacrifices and results will take time to arrive. In the short term you might even get punished to do good, even by your closed ones or your apparently empathic boss, which will make everything more painful, but nothing can stop you in the long run. Keep going, even when everything seems to fall apart. It will all be worth it.
Smashed deserves a plain 9/10! It is because of its crystal clear honesty, while Mary Elizabeth Winstead deserves 10/10 for her astonishing performance! I’m not kidding. I’ve never seen on screen such a loyal portrait of a drunk person! I’ve had some wasted girlfriends and trust me, they’re really like that: aggressive, loud, angry, bipolar, insulting, and unpredictable. You don’t want to be around them when alcohol turns them into Mrs Hyde.
When playing the sober Kate, Winstead’s delivery doesn’t lose any power; a fragile, yet strong human being determined to elevate herself despite the opposition of everyone close to her. If I were a kid, I’d be mad at the principal for firing such a dedicated and entertaining teacher! I wish Kate was my math teacher instead of the monster I had in primary school…
I came here for Aaron Paul and stayed for the story and for Winstead’s acting. Not that Aaron’s performance is not good. It is awesome as usual, but his role is supporting and when called in, he plays what I’ve already seen with Pinkman, just drunk instead of high. However, Paul is the one closing the movie, with a touching request of playing one more garden golf game with his ex-wife “because you’re kicking my ass and it’s embarrassing… and I’d like to have a chance… to redeem myself…”
The question remains suspended and we will never know what Kate answered… And you? What would you answer in that situation? That’s what this movie is going to ask you. Be prepared!
