Review of Smashed (2012) by Michael G — 15 Apr 2013

I seriously want to know if there's some sort of prerequisite that says all indie movies have to end the same. Now, a lot of times I have no problem with the endings of them, but other times it just feels like it ended that way for the sole fact that it's an independent production. Smashed is one of those films. I didn't hate the ending, but I didn't feel that ending was necessary here. Aside from that I thought this was a terrific film, thanks in large part to an utterly fantastic lead performance by Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World) as a woman struggling with alcoholism. She was so robbed of an Oscar nomination. She has never been better than she is here. I hope her role here will get her more recognition. She really just blew me away with her raw performance.

For such a cheap production budget I thought this movie looked really good. I'm always impressed when a movie can look so good for so little money (by film budget standards).

Despite the heavy subject matter I really didn't find this film to be overly depressing so I wouldn't let that scare anyone off from watching it. It's a serious movie but also has its fair share of humor. This is probably one of the best films I've seen on the subject. I'd definitely recommend it.