Review of Thanks for Sharing (2013) by Greatmartin — 23 Sep 2013

“Thanks For Sharing” is a film about addiction--sex addiction. When the film opens we meet Adam (Mark Ruffalo) who has 5 years of recovery, his sponsor Mike (Tim Robbins) and Neil (Josh Gad) who is court ordered to attend the sessions but doesn’t take it seriously until he loses his job as an ER medic. Neil has problems with his mother Roberta (Carol Kane), while Mike’s son, Danny, (Patrick Fugit) was a drug addict who was treated badly by his father when he was young and Mike’s wife, Monica (Joely Richardson) has learned how to deal with her husband’s problems by concentrating on herself.

The film revolves around three couples from the long married Mike and Monica to Adam ready to have his long purposely delayed sexual experience after meeting Phoebe (Gwyneth Paltrow) and the friendship between Neil and Dede (Alecia Moore aka Pink), the latter wilder than any of the men.

As in any film about addiction there are victories and defeats though in “Thanks For Sharing” there are more of the former. The scenes involving Tim Robbins, Joely Richardson and Patrick Fugit, especially those between the two men, are full of electric. Josh Gad and Alecia Moore offer the comedy relief with both doing excellent work. The first scene of Ruffalo with his shirt off brings back the 50s and 60s when actors like William Holden has to shave their chests of all hair--obviously that rule doesn’t apply anymore.

Ruffalo gives a warm, sensitive performance while Paltrow, as a cancer survivor, comes across as cold and unfeeling with the role begging for a warm, girl next door actress. By the way the film Academy may have to give an Oscar for the actress who gives the best lap dance and strip show if there are any more in addition to Paltrow here and Jennifer Aniston in “We’re The Millers”--right now Aniston wins!

With a screenplay by Stuart Blumberg, who also directed, and Matt Winston, “Thanks For Sharing” really doesn’t bring anything new to an addiction story except here it is about sex instead of drugs and/or alcohol so there are more sexual situations shown. Mark Ruffalo, Tim Robbins, Josh Gad, Patrick Fugit and Alecia Moore all do excellent work and hold your interest as does the photography of New York City by Yaron Orbach.