”I woke up one morning, and when I looked in the mirror I noticed my nose was bent over entirely onto one side of my face. So, I got a hammer, and started banging my nose back to a right angle with my face. Suddenly, I looked at myself in the mirror, hammer in hand, blood streaming down my chin, and I realized my life was no longer manageable.”
– M. Emmet Walsh
as Richard Dirks, Clean and Sober
Clean And Sober is a powerful story of addiction, recovery and self-discovery from director Glenn Gordon Caron (Moonlighting, Medium) with the obvious hand of executive producer Ron Howard. Apparently Michael Keaton was cast as Bruce Wayne in Tim Burton’s Batman on the strength of his performance here, (good spot, Jon Peters!), but there is much more to recommend it than that.
Most of us have had bad days but few of us can compare with hot shot real estate salesman Daryl Poynter, (Keaton), who wakes up to discover the hot blonde he hooked up with the night before has overdosed and that the $92k he “borrowed” from work has disappeared in a deal gone bad.
With the cops and the dead girl’s vengeful father after him, he takes refuge in a rehab program that guarantees him confidentiality. Initially he treats it like a joke, refusing to engage with other patients and is thrown out before managing to charm his way back in; helped by no-nonsense ex-addict turned counselor Craig (Morgan Freeman), and wily but wise AA sponsor Richard (the late, great M. Emmet Walsh), push him to challenge himself and face up to the truth of what he has done and what he has become.
As he finally acknowledges and struggles with his addictions to cocaine and alcohol, Daryl develops a growing relationship with feisty but damaged alcoholic Charlie (Diane Baker), who slowly succumbs to his dubious charms. As Richard coaches him through his return to the outside world, Daryl vows to free Charlie from her abusive boyfriend.
Keaton is almost constantly on screen, swinging between moments of frenetic energy and a hair-trigger temper. He is a charmer, an egotist, and at times completely despicable as demonstrated by a one-way phone conversation with his elderly mother as he tries to raise cash from her- she has clearly seen and heard it all before and he is forced to pull out all the emotional blackmail he can muster.
The quick-fire montage of Daryl improvising increasingly outrageous lies at job interviews is a thing of wonder. Even when he is silently watching other patients at meetings, he has a magnetic presence. Kathy Baker’s Charlie is effortlessly sassy and sexy with a rich vein of vulnerability under the steel. The two leads are impressive with clear chemistry between them, but they are backed up by a strong ensemble including brief but effective support from Freeman and Walsh appearances from Tate Donovan (what happened to him?) and Babylon 5’s Claudia Christian.
From Days Of Wine & Roses to Gridlock’d and beyond, there have been countless films about addiction and no doubt there will be countless more to come. Clean and Sober might not be set in the hood and lacks an abundance of bodily fluids or Requiem For A Dream style horrors or dream sequences, but it still carries an emotional punch.
Without spoilers, there are no easy answers and no happy endings here. We see a brief sequence of Daryl going through cold turkey, (which I thought should have been a tad tougher than the usual hangover!), group meetings and a touch of physical exercise, but the only glimpse of the “magic” comes in the form of Richard’s sponsorship, forcing Daryl to write a summary of his previous misdeeds.
I’m guessing the point is that getting clean is a personal experience – although characters quit drink and drugs, most of them chain smoke like chimneys! Some might think the sudden shift from rehab to love story is a misstep, but personally I think it works. In his way, Daryl is equally controlling, literally writing a script for her to read to her boyfriend Lenny. Charlie clearly has self esteem issues and does not think she deserves better. He has effectively swapped one form of addiction for another. Love can be like that…
Despite Caron’s prolific success in television, it’s a shame he hasn’t made more for the big screen and a shame Clean and Sober didn’t get more recognition from the awards guys, (I’m sure he’s doing OK!),, but do give this a look if you get chance.
Fully remastered, the release also contains the film’s trailer.
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