Thanks for Sharing

First Hit:  Scenes of this film are really good and reflective.

I can understand the lack of an audience for this film. People aren’t necessarily compelled to watch something that has such a stigma – yet it would be wise if people did.

Adam (Mark Ruffalo) is a recovering sex addict. Although he has 5 years of sobriety from sex, he’s still scared every day of what can happen if he acts out on his underlying desires. His sponsor, Mike (Tim Robbins), is encouraging him to consider dating and being open and honest in a full and engaged relationship.

Mike is an addict himself with multiple additions, or so we are led to believe and his steadfast guidance is honored in the weekly meetings. His wife Katie (Joely Richardson) has been through it all with him and she continues to be a supportive because she loves him.

To view the obsessiveness of this addition, the film uses Neil (Josh Gad) a doctor who rubs against people in the subway, tries to film up his bosses dress, watches porn films he’s made and on the internet. He is out of control and tries to BS his fellow AA meeting group about his sobriety.

The scenes in the meetings were good, and some were very good. The scenes of Neil falling to his obsessive behavior are tinged with Gad’s own humor, but also show to the lengths some go to, to not acknowledge their disease. Bringing Adam out and into the world of a sexual relationship is Phoebe (Gwyneth Paltrow). She has had a prior relationship with an addicted person (alcohol) and makes it clear she doesn’t want to be with someone who’s in a “program”.

When Adam honesty opens up this part of himself to Phoebe is a powerful part of this film. Then seeing Adam’s fall into past behavior was equally powerful. The film also shows how addictions affect family by sharing Mike’s son Danny (Patrick Fugit) own fight to sobriety although it is different than his father’s.

Ruffalo is really good and believable is presenting the constant vigilance he has to take and how easy it is to fall down again. Robbins is very good as the slightly self-righteous sponsor who has years and years of sobriety and his arrogant behavior leads him to being humble. Gad is great and willing to put obsessive behavior on film. Paltrow is beautiful, and carries her character in the ways many people share about addicted people. Fugit is good as the son who is attempting to make amends his own way. Pink as Dede, another addicted person, is wonderful and she brought a strong woman’s voice to the film. Stuart Blumberg and Matt Winston wrote a very good script and obviously did their homework. Blumberg’s direction was very good while some scenes were exceptionally strong.

Overall:  I really like this film because the closeness of addiction in me and my extended family’s life.

The Kids Are All Right

First Hit: Very good performances but felt the story lacked something.

The basics are this; a gay marriage between Jules (played by Julianne Moore) and Nic (played by Annette Bening) is shaken when their daughter Joni (Mia Wasikowska) makes contact with her and her brother Laser’s (played by Josh Hutcherson) sperm donor.

She does this at Laser’s insistence who, perhaps, feels like he’s missing something by not having a father. The donor in this case is Paul (played by Mark Ruffalo) who happens to live nearby, is a restaurant owner and a bit younger than the mothers.

What didn’t work for me in this film is I didn’t think Laser’s character was fleshed out enough to know why he wanted to meet the sperm donor. I didn't think that it was probable that the donor would live within a few miles of the kids. I didn’t quite think the aging differences of Jules, Nic and Paul worked well.

Nic seemed too old for Paul and Jules but the director tried to fix this by having a Joni Mitchell discussion at a dinner table. By having Nic and Paul get into a long discussion of Joni’s musical work tried to make them equal in age but it fell short for me.

I also didn’t like how we were left with nothing about what happens to Paul towards the end of the film. What did work about this film was Nic’s and Jules’ relationship, its ups and downs, and how they had gotten lost with each other. I thought Joni and Laser’s relationship with their mothers, each other and with Paul was effective and true.

A lot of the dialogue was really well developed and created effective scenes. I also liked Jules character a lot.

Moore was really good as the more female role of this couple. Her letting Bening know that she felt controlled was a good reflection of what happens in many relationships. Bening was very strong as the breadwinner and person who sets the tone of the family. Wasikowska was the real surprise for me. I thought she held her own with the two aforementioned actresses. She effectively portrayed a young woman who was just learning about her own boundaries and strengths as a human being. Hutcherson was good as the brooding younger brother and son. He was on target with his actions and reactions to the things going on around him. Ruffalo was good as the sperm donor dad. However, I’m not sure his character fit fully into the film. Was it important that he was a skirt chaser? Did he really make the transition to wanting a true partnership with Moore? However, this was probably more of poor story cohesiveness than Ruffalo’s acting ability. What was on the screen was well directed by Lisa Cholodenko, however she and Stuart Blumberg missed some important stuff in the writing, mostly with Ruffalo’s character.

Overall: This was a good film, there were some great funny and dramatic scenes but overall it didn’t quite hit the mark.