Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Movie Review: "Thanks for Sharing" (2013)

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Movie"Thanks for Sharing"
Director: Stuart Blumberg
Year: 2013
Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour, 52 minutes

Different members of a sex addict support group, Adam (Mark Ruffalo), Mike (Tom Robbins), and Neil (Josh Gad), deal with their everyday lives and relationships while trying their best to control their addiction.  

A movie about sex addiction? Did David Duchovny write this?

"Thanks for Sharing" is a film we missed when it first came out. With a solid cast in Tim Robbins, Mark Ruffalo, Josh Gad, and acting newcomer Alecia Moore, aka P!nk, the very talented singer/songwriter, we were confused why this movie didn't get a huge nationwide roll-out at the cinema. Overall, the movie is a decent one, though it's kind of poorly paced. The best parts about this film are the awkward, funny moments between characters interacting with one another and their loved ones while trying to keep their sex addictions at bay. It's a nice mix of comedy, drama, a little bit of heart, and a whole lot of self-discovery. The acting here from most of the principle actors is very good. Mark Ruffalo is just twitchy enough to be believed as an addict, and we mean this in the best way possible. His character Adam is five years sober and hasn't had sex since he started the "program." This all changes when he meets Phoebe, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, who might, by some, be put in the "good acting" list, but we're not fans of Goop here or anywhere else, really, and her character Phoebe is sort of an annoying jerk in this film. She and Adam begin a relationship, but instead of being upfront with her about his addiction, Adam opts to hide it from her, dooming their relationship from the start. He has a real hard time coming to terms with love in his recovery. Then, there's Mike, played by the impeccable Tim Robbins, who seems to be the leader of the sex addicts support group. He is married to his wife Katie, played by Joely Richardson, and has just had his grown son Danny, played by Patrick Fugit, who is a non-group-going recovering addict himself, come back into his life and 8 months sober. Mike likes to be right all the time and controls each situation on his own as best he can. Finally, there's Neil, played by the ever popular Josh Gad in a pre-Olaf role, who claims he is sober when he's really not, in a very heavy denial that there's anything wrong with him. He cannot go one day without self-pleasuring, and his bad attitude and smarmy nature get him in trouble at his dream job, crumbling his hopes as a doctor. He teams up with Dede, played by Alecia Moore, who is one of the only women in their support group and has a penchant for going back to the men who have hurt her the most because she loves the sex so much. Together, these people must rally together, all share their deepest and most intimate secrets to support one another, get angry with each other, all so they can fully recover and try to stay sober on their individual journeys in the Big Apple.

Though it does feel dragged out as the movie rolls along, "Thanks for Sharing" might not have won any awards, but it's decent enough as an off the beaten path romantic dramedy. Some of the dialogue and language used here does feel a bit too juvenile, even schmaltzy at times, but for what it's worth, we enjoyed it just fine. It has a strong beginning and middle, but unfortunately, it peters out by the film's end, venturing into the overly melodramatic as each character and their respective people run into temptations all at the same time, conveniently. As Mike trades blows with his son, Adam goes on a sex-bender after a hiccup with Phoebe. When Neil finally gets the courage to move on from his addiction and tell his mom, Dede wants to have sex with her ex and is in dire need of help. It's these formulaic coincidences and happenings from the dramedy genre we have come to know over the years and hoped would be a bit different in a film with such not often explored subject. We also wish the movie could have gone a little further into exploring the psychology of sex addiction as a whole as opposed to just its surface value unpleasantries. It's decent, but not the best ensemble film from 2013.

My Rating: 6.5/10
BigJ's Rating: 6.5/10
IMDB's Rating: 6.4/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 49%
Do we recommend this movie: Sure, why not?
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One year ago, we were watching: "Southpaw"

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