Review of Smashed (2012) by Dan O — 02 Mar 2013

With a pretty basic plot seen in films such as "When A Man Loves A Woman", "Smashed" finds its most success in the great performance by Mary Elizabeth Winstead which will hopefully skyrocket her career to new highs as a dramatic actress. That is not to discredit the other performances from Aaron Paul, Octavia Spencer, Megan Mullanny, etc, but since Winstead is the central focus, she needed to turn in a great performance and she did very nicely.

In about an hour and 20 minutes, this film was able to carry more meaning and sincerity to me than a film such as "This Is 40", a film that while not focusing on alcohol, was a comedy that was meant to show the stresses of getting older and it ultimately failed due to poor writing and a reliance on one-liners.

Everything in this film felt genuine. It showed no fear in covering just how alcohol can become a major addiction and even covering the struggle that someone who has recovered has to deal with.

I also found it a nice touch that Mary Elizabeth Winstead largely went the majority of the film with a lack of make-up. It at times was hard to recognize her after seeing how she looked in "Scott Pilgrim." That is to the film's credit though in showcasing its realism, as well as showing how gorgeous Mary is even without the "Hollywood cover-up.".

4 - 4.5/5.