6/10
Smashed is an indie-dramedy about a young alcoholic couple. Kindergarten teacher Kate (played by Mary Elizabeth Winsted) is the focus of the film and her attempts to get and stay sober while her husband remains off the wagon.
There are a lot of easy criticisms about this movie, namely its portrayal of sobriety as something that can be achieved practically overnight with little struggle. When Kate wants to get sober, she goes to a couple of AA meetings, reads a book, and voila, success. Her only transgression is when she gets fired from her job (for covering up the lie about an episode that led to get wanting to sober up in the first place) and immediately after that, she's shown recovered and sober again.
Nick Offerman plays Kate's vice principal and a recovering alcoholic himself. A thread about him falling in love with Kate is played for laughs then dropped abruptly - either something was left on the cutting room floor or it was all an excuse to get some foul-mouthed jokes in. Megan Mullally plays Kate's prinicipal and overacts every line to an absurd degree.
All things considered, I should have liked Smashed less than I did, but I actually did enjoy it. This is likely owing almost entirely to Winsted's performance - far better than the movie deserves, her own likeability somehow rubs off on the film itself. And the fact that it was a free screening didn't hurt either.
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