A really good film from Michael Keaton here. Keaton plays a hard drinking, chain smoking, coke addict who's also pretty aggressive, rude, crude and selfish. After getting into some possible trouble though he decides to use a rehab centre as a place to lie low for a while. His life gets worse though and the hospital is initially a sobering place for him. There's a real lack of glamour to everything I really liked, and there's a certain truth to the characters staying there. It doesn't take long of course before our main character's arrogance takes hold and he constantly clashes with the mentor character there played by Morgan Freeman. The acting between these two is excellent, they are sort of the heart of the film though quite a lot of it takes place outside the rehab centre. Keaton we find out can't admit he has a problem and continually lies throughout the film even while others try to help him and others give him some tough love. Again the acting is just great from Keaton, whether he's flying into a rage, laughing things off or overcome with disgust about things. We can see in the various characters their all consuming desire for drugs and what it's doing to them. Keaton seems to be a man without remorse or guilt yet as the film moves along we also see tiny signs of change too among all his lies. The real change I suppose happens when he starts to show some care for someone else, though the film does all lose some traction towards the end with an on/off relationship. The film's ending though is very well acted and again very powerful.
All in all a various hard hitting and real film about addiction and it's horrible consequences. The film is very well constructed, even the costumes and the horrible grey and brown colours of the rehab centre paint a picture of a very unattractive side of America we may rarely see on film.
All in all a various hard hitting and real film about addiction and it's horrible consequences. The film is very well constructed, even the costumes and the horrible grey and brown colours of the rehab centre paint a picture of a very unattractive side of America we may rarely see on film.