5 Best Movies About Alcoholism

This movie about alcoholism and the rise, fall and rebirth of an American icon will give you food for thought and we think maybe a little inspiration too. If you’re not already a Johnny Cash fan, chances are you will be before the film is over. A Special Jury Prize winner at the Sundance Film Festival, Smashed, follows the life of Kate Hannah (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), an alcoholic elementary school teacher who is married to a fellow alcoholic.

James reluctantly agrees to let her crash at his place, as long as she doesn’t drink. But Leslie, being Leslie, steals money from James’ roommate and is caught hiding liquor bottles under her bed. James calls his grandmother, Leslie’s mom and a friend for help. Westwind Recovery® specializes in mental health care and addiction issues.

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But Henry remains obsessed with Eddie, which results in fights between the two outside the bar, while patrons bet on who will win. The film has lots of quotable dialogue and benefits from the hysterically funny Grant as Withnail. However, due to Withnail’s severe alcoholism, it is also quite a tragic story, what with Marwood finding himself in a better life, leaving Withnail alone with his wine bottle. Withnail quotes Hamlet at the end of the movie, further solidifying him as a self-aware figure of tragedy. It’s not that real-life alcoholics aren’t prone to instances of over-the-top behavior, of course.

• TheNYTimes called “To Leslie” a complex portrait of the ways that trauma and addiction haunt an alcoholic mother, and her family in the South.
• Kirsten doesn’t drink at all until Joe cajoles her to join him in the constant drinking that is part of his job, and it quickly begins to seep over into their home life as well.
• Here, a doctor takes Birnam and the viewer through other people struggling with this disease, including a reputable ad executive.
• He is drawn in by the Master as Dodd is called and into a world where his violence still has free reign.

While there, he forms an unlikely friendship with a prostitute, and they make a pact to not interfere in each other’s choices and lives regardless of how reckless they may be. A self-destructive woman named Betty meets a middle-aged alcoholic who makes the decision to take care of her. Along the way, Betty shares the stories of her materialistic life, her unhappy marriage, and moments of her promiscuous indiscretions. The stories of two DEA agents protecting an informant and a jailed drug baron’s wife collide with the story of a conservative judge who gets appointed by the U.S. President for the purpose of taking on the war on drugs, only to find out the judge’s daughter is addicted to cocaine. Newspaper columnist Gwen Cummings borrows the limo at her sister’s wedding and crashes it while on her cell trying to find a replacement cake for the one she’s ruined.

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Don’t let the problem get as bad as the characters in some of these movies about alcoholism. For more information how to stop drinking without any of the usual misery – click here. Ray Milland gives a remarkable performance as Don in the final of our movies about alcoholism. He changes himself into a raving junkie and he is not intimidated to reveal the despair and grubbiness of the alcoholic’s life. Poynter is addicted to cocaine and loses a lot of his companies money to addiction. He ends up in a sticky situation when he wakes up next to a woman who has had a heart attack.

Unquestionably a must-see if you’re looking for sober house that take an unflinching look at it and really ring with emotional authenticity. Smashed stars Aaron Paul (Jesse from Breaking Bad) and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, whom you may remember played Bruce Willis’ daughter in the Die Hard movies. This movie about alcoholism features a couple who both have an alcohol use disorder. Through the course of the film, they run into a series of mishaps and consequences directly related to their problem drinking. Alcoholics Anonymous is a somewhat prominent feature in this alcoholic movie, which is nice to see because there is more focus on the solution than usual. Smashed is different in that we get a glimpse of the solution earlier on in the film and get to see how it works in the character’s life.

Movies About Alcoholism and Problem Drinking

Henry’s prospects rise and fall, but not much changes, and Rourke received good reviews as a man who just can’t get out of the rut he’s put himself in. Kevin McKidd (who you might recognize as the tragic Tommy from Trainspotting), plays Frankie, an alcoholic whose story is told in the film’s three sections. Frankie’s unhappy childhood sets him up for failure, which manifests in a period as a violent skinhead in his youth. The failure of a burgeoning relationship sparks him to stop drinking, but when he becomes romantically entangled with another alcoholic, he relapses.

In no particular order, here are 6 of my favorites with a few notes on why. I’m really good at comparing my insides to other people’s outsides and wrongly assessing reality. One of the gifts I’ve received in recovery, and I have received many, is freedom from this kind of thinking most of the time. TheNYTimes called “To Leslie” a complex portrait of the ways that trauma and addiction haunt an alcoholic mother, and her family in the South.

“The Lost Weekend”
Billy Wilder’s “The Lost Weekend” is basically a horror film about a washed-up writer whose addiction has taken over his life. The film begins with a long crane shot that initially surveys the buildings on a city block and then hones in on a bottle of whiskey that Ray Milland‘s haunted Don Birnam has secreted in case of such an emergency. Don’s fears of being alone and desperately in need of a drink in a city full of people that pity him are well-founded.

Rocketman tells the true story of a man named Reggie Dwight and how, against all odds, he became the internationally, multi-generationally famous rock star, Elton John. It’s a wild ride with some spectacularly choreographed musical scenes and poignant emotional moments. It delivers some powerfully resonant lessons about self-realization and self acceptance. Elton John’s battles with drugs and alcohol are a prominent theme throughout the film, as they were in his real life.