Smashed - Review

I hated this film's poster. I loathed the film's trailer. How could a reportedly serious look at a couple crumbling due to their rampant alcoholism be treated as the newest LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE? Well, after seeing SMASHED, I ended up being the giant sucker. This unfortunately flat feature film by James Ponsoldt wastes an accomplished performance by its female lead to play for quirky indie laughs. Why pay attention to the lies piling up and the crushing of human souls when we can see people eat McDonald's cheeseburgers while they watch a public domain short featuring wacky hairdos?


This is a story about Kate and Charlie. They are alcoholics. Kate is an elementary school teacher while her husband Charlie is a rich little boy who stays at the house all day at his "job". Wherever they go, and even during their working hours, the two drink. Everything seems to be going fine with their habit; neither of them are falling out of love and they enjoy hanging out at bars, singing to old Nick Lowe songs. However, Kate's wavering attitude begins to buckle when she blackouts for two straight days. Her last memory of each day is a nightmarish scenario: taking crack hits with a complete stranger while driving and urinating in a public store. She wishes to stop her drinking with the help of A.A. and the encouragement of a fellow teacher/vice principal of her school. Not only does she now have to deal with her new found sobriety, she also must contend with her exasperated husband and a major lie to her boss and students that she is pregnant, in order to cover up an early vomiting incident.


This sounds like an interesting though basic tale and it should have been. It is amazingly anchored by a committed Mary Elizabeth Winstead, whose heart continues to break during Kate's lows and honest moments of clarity. She blends well with Aaron Paul as Charlie, working up a great chemistry and bonding over wine and frolicking through a broken down Santa's village. There's also the gamey supporting staff of real-life husband and wife team Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally as the vice principal and principal respectively and a cameo by Oscar winner Octavia Spencer as Kate's sponsor.


These actors craft interesting vibrations only to fall hard by the words coming out of their mouths. The "witty" humor that plagues the movie and ultimately ruins it include the greatest hits of the indies: Swearing children, drunken mothers, a happy-go-lucky music score, and hilarious slips of the tongue that stop the action and spend the rest of the scene's duration talking and analyzing about it. That last one literally kills off Offerman's character, who is given a brief lecture scene later before getting completely muted. Mullally however receives the worst of all, stuck in a crazy cat-lady position as her character embarks on showering Kate with baby parties and one to one conferences. Her dry antics are supposed to be laughed at, even though the viewer wisely knows that the bare-bones script will have this rapidly segue into a dramatic quiet scene that completely misfires. Ponsoldt seemingly wanted to showcase scenes that recall old drug exploitation films rather than have an original take, hence why you can connect the plot dots to the next disaster for Kate. All of this before a third act that just skips ahead so the film can mercifully end. A smashed ending, you might say.



FINAL REVIEW: 2 / 5