Remember when reading the book used to make you excited about seeing the movie? I used to love watching the film in English class after finishing one of the classic novels we had just finished. It was always interesting to see how a filmmaker’s version of a movie differed from the vision that I had formulated in my mind. Nowadays, if I am made aware of this with enough advance notice to see the film, I’ll try to read the book. To say I do this as many of my English teacher friends would be a lie. Still, recent books that I have been able to read before seeing the movie were The Martian (great movie, but better book) and The Maze Runner. I also recently read Paper Towns, which I disliked so much that I will skip the movie. Also, a few years ago, I read In The Heart of the Sea. With apologies to Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, this was THE most descriptive book I have read in my entire life. I had no idea when I read it that a film version would also come, and I am super excited to see this Ron Howard-directed movie when it comes to theaters in a couple of weeks. In any case, the movie rarely lives up to a good book. It’s just impossible to get everything in a great book into a two-hour film. Recently I’ve seen a couple of movies where I’ve wanted to read the book afterward. These have included American Sniper, Room, and Amy Koppelman’s novel I Smile Back. There is a difference, however. American Sniper was my number one movie of 2014, while Room is pushing for that spot on my 2015 list. I Smile Back was a book that I could see as something I might love and be able to relate to better. The movie, however, was highly disappointing.
What’s funny is that this movie was only playing in one theater in the entire DC area (Angelika off of Penn St. in DC). I was so anxious to see it that I made the trek out for a Saturday early evening showing the day after it was released. I had never been to the theater before, and it’s like no other theater I’ve ever previously visited. If you aren’t careful, you’ll miss it. There are four theaters on the inside, but only one small hole in the wall door on the outside. Also, there were only two other people in the theater. So, literally, in all of Washington DC, Southern Maryland, and Northern Virginia, I was one of three people watching that movie at that time. That should have told me something right there. But I was hooked by three things. The first is that I love heavy addiction-driven dramas. Second, I thought the trailer was great. And when watching the trailer, Sarah Silverman (Take This Waltz, School of Rock) looked nearly unrecognizable in this heavy drama. I should have done more research. I read just one review (Richard Roeper’s), and the review was stellar. Oops. $18 later (which included a small popcorn), I wouldn’t say I regret my decision, but I am telling myself that I need to slow down with certain things going forth.
This movie has many themes, one of which is that a person’s portrayal of the public is often very different from what goes on behind clothes doors. Laney is a 39-year old mother of an upper elementary school-aged son and a younger elementary school-aged daughter. She can be a stay-at-home mom to her young children as her husband Bruce (Josh Charles – television’s The Good Wife), whose job as an insurance executive (as well as the author of a self-help book) makes enough money for the family to live comfortably in an opulent house in a well-to-do suburban community. Laney seems to have it all. Physically, she is stunning. It seems like she has a storybook marriage and is a perfect mother to those on the outside. But those people don’t see that she suffers from a, at times, debilitating illness and addictions to cocaine, alcohol, and meaningless and unprotected sex. She is having a sex-only based affair that she is having with Donny (Thomas Sadoski – John Wick, Wild), a family friend whose sons are in the same class at school and whose families share meals regularly.
Laney’s problems seemingly stem from her when her father (Chris Sarandon – Safe, Fright Night) left her nine years old. The two hadn’t conversed in 30 years. I don’t know. It didn’t work for me. I understand that there is no formula about what messes up and that with mental disorders, many of us are predisposed to it before we are born. And when her son Eli (Skylar Gaertner – Sleeping With Other People, They Came Together) starts exhibiting some signs of anxiety and having some obsessive-compulsive disorders, Laney blames her genes. So if that is the case, I’m uncertain why the issue with her father even came into play. It felt forced. It felt like there was a story without it. And because this was introduced as a part of Laney’s storyline, we lose out on some of the other underdeveloped stories.
***Start of Spoilers***
When we meet her, Laney is knee-deep in these issues. We don’t have a basis of what she was like before some of these issues when they set in. We don’t know if she’s been dealing with these all of her life or if they started in her 20’s or if they started in just the last year or two. We don’t know very much at all. Bruce seems oblivious to her drug and alcohol addictions as well as her extra-marital affairs. He is aware of her diagnosed mental disorder and her medications (or not taking them). He knows her love for her children, but she can be unsafe with them when she is not on her medication. He does discover she is not taking her Lithium. As a result, some decisions need to be made. These include her going to rehab.
I would have liked to have known more about how her issues stemmed. Alcohol and drug addiction were prevalent. It was shown repeatedly, and we understood this was her addiction for the film’s first half. What needed a better explanation was her mental disorder. I would have loved to get to know what this woman was like before the movie. We never really did get a chance to see her smile, at least a genuine smile, for this entire movie. Likewise, with the movie’s second half, some of her challenging problems were assumed to be addressed, but we never got them. A person battles alcohol, gets some help, but never has urges to drink again? A quick trip to rehab makes everything perfect once someone returns home? That is not the case and wasn’t the case for the entire time she came out of rehab…but it was at first. And the sex urges suddenly went away as well…for a while. Perhaps a lot of these can be related to her meetings with doctors and psychologists as well as getting back on her medication, but there was a too much assumption
When she goes to meet her father and his young daughter (who appears to be the same age that Laney was when her father left and never talked to her again), it just seems weird and out of place. Was this whole part of the story needed? For the movie, I do not think so. I understand that seeing him and his happy daughter brought back some deep emotions that she probably didn’t know would resurface. This results in her making some poor decisions after this encounter. We sympathize with Laney and feel for her family, but I wanted more. This movie touched the surface of what could be a fantastic story that we might remember for a long time, but it never pierces that surface. Yes, her mental disorder probably led to all of her addictions that made her feel like a worthless piece of shit. This allowed her to let herself be treated like a worthless piece of shit more and more as the movie progressed. And this I do understand. It’s a terrible feeling. It’s a helpless feeling. But please show us more of the reasons why Salky allows herself to get slammed to the wall hard twice after unprotected sex with a stranger. She’s left bloodied and robbed. Help us get from Point A to Point B rather than just showing us Point A and B. Would you please show us how easily she could adjust to her home life so quickly in the beginning, and then why? We are left with a feeling of helplessness for Laney. We should have been able to like her more.
***End of Spoilers***
This movie had potential but needed a more accomplished director. I am glad I saw it. I am anxious to read it. But, despite my higher scores, it would be hard for me to recommend it to anyone.
Plot 8.5/10
Character Development 7/10
Character Chemistry 7/10
Acting 9/10
Screenplay 7/10 (adapted screenplay gets this score…the material it was adapted from would likely get a much higher score)
Directing 4/10
Cinematography 8.5/10 (the characters, especially Laney, wear their emotions on their face well)
Sound 8/10
Hook and Reel 9/10 (despite my problems with the film and the frustrations I had during it, I was always into it…I know it was not going to end in a way that satisfied me, but that didn’t deter my interest in it)
Universal Relevance 10/10 (relevant topic…a better movie with all of these themes will one day be developed)
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