Addiction and abuse is never about enjoying the substance entirely, but formed by a habit to fit into or escape from an environment or situation. Smashed chronicles a school teacher’s fall from grace and her struggle to find support in an environment that resists sobriety.
The first several shots of the film set-up the daily routine Kate’s alcoholism; she has urinated in her sleep and is in within arm’s reach of a beer while she is in the shower. Her hangover is shared with her husband Charlie (Aaron Paul), who is a trust-fund baby with some income as a music writer. The incident that sets the film in motion is her vomiting while instructing her elementary school class, a consequence of a hangover. Her students question her on whether she is pregnant, and she kowtows towards this suggestion. Although she is able to convince the school principal about her fake pregnancy, she is unable to convince Dave (Nick Offerman), because he saw her drink before entering the school that morning, and he sympathizes with her alcoholism, because he has been there.
One of the most prevalent themes in the film is the idea that, although Kate has chosen to become sober, her environment may not change. Dave admits that his marriage had failed on that premise, as did Kate’s sponsor Jenny (Octavia Spencer). They say that recognizing the problem is the first step, but the subsequent steps are increasingly problematic. When she tells Charlie about her plans to no longer drink, he is supportive, but not interested in following her new found discipline. Furthermore, Kate attempts to reach out to her mother, a key player in Kate’s turn to the drink at an early age.
Smashed tends to portray alcoholism not as a foible, but as a systematic symptom of past and current environments. It does not take much for one penchant to lead to another, and an addict’s worst moments tend to be when the reliance on substance cannot be obtained. The pivotal moment in Kate’s alcohol abuse is when she demands a bottle of wine at the wee hours of the morning which triggers a mindless argument and public urination.
Kate’s difficulty in kicking her alcoholism parallels her inability to get her husband to commit, but he does intend to tag along from time to time. Overcoming any addiction requires more than just tagging along, it requires unbridled commitment. Smashed is a film that is committed to following how Kate weaves in and out of her new friendships, her old relationships, and the lies that came about by covering up her worst moments. No matter how long you can remain off that one substance that ruined your life, or even someone else’s, one relapse takes you back to zero.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s role as Kate is affable and charming, even her most demanding since the later Die Hard films and Scott Pilgrim. Nick Offerman bucks his iconic role as Ron Swanson on Parks and Recreation to be a supportive Vice Principal who is well aware of Kate’s inability to perform and its symptoms. He knows because he has been there, and his experience is seemingly much worse than Kate’s. While he supports Kate in a difficult decision, and an increasingly difficult road to sobriety, his relationship with her is turbulent, but not in the way one might expect. An awkward exchange provokes one of the most uncomfortable moments in the film, but this moment is also the foundation for one of the most humorous exchanges in the film.
Smashed has a memorable original score from Eric D. Johnson, with a guitar-driven leitmotif that is as sincere as the struggle for Kate to find sobriety. It is just as appropriate as the predominately hand-held camera work that shifts with the scene. It is deliberately shaky when Kate teaches her students just prior to her vomiting, and cut quickly and chaotically after she takes a hit of crack and endlessly chats about her upbringing without a single breath. I tend to complain about the misuse of hand-held camera work, but Director James Ponsoldt and Cinematographer Tobias Datum use this device in a manner where its presence is unmistakable and fitting.
Thankfully, Smashed takes no shortcuts in portraying neither the difficulties in changing one’s habits, nor the difficulty in changing the environment in which that addiction arose from. It refuses to show AA as the singular turning point in Kate’s life because the real changes occur outside those meetings. The acting, the premise, and the cinematography work in collusion to provide a sense of realism to an oft told story that in a reasonable and tangible manner.
