A good movie

Since I really loved 'The Spectacular Now', I was really eager to watch James Ponsoldt's previous directing effort. It's only later on that I discovered that both movies were dealing with alcoholism but while 'The Spectacular Now' was probably one of the most original movies I have seen dealing with this subject, this movie was much more straightforward, probably too much, so it didn't have such an impact on me. It doesn't mean that it wasn't any good, in the contrary. Indeed, Mary Elizabeth Winstead easily gave here her best performance so far and, with Aaron Paul, they made a messed-up but still sweet couple somehow. I also liked the way they displayed that when you are drunk or high on something, the most trivial and stupid things become suddenly fun and entertaining for absolutely no reason and, when you get sober, you discover that life is actually pretty boring and depressing. It displayed also how it becomes difficult to tolerate the behavior of the people who are still drinking, not really because you envy them, but more because you finally see how obnoxious and moronic their behavior can be when they are drunk. Still, to be honest, did she really need to tell the truth to her boss? I don't think so, especially since the outcome was just so predictable. In fact, the whole pregnancy gimmick didn't really work in my opinion. I mean, she could have easily told the kids instead 'No, I'm not pregnant. I just don't feel so good today, that's all'. I guess the point was to show that alcoholics always get entangled in some messed-up situations but it didn't really work. Anyway, to conclude, in spite or flaws, it was still a solid drama and it is definitely worth a look.

7/10