Drunks
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DVD details
Actor: George Martin (II), Liam Ahern, Liza Harris, Richard Lewis (II), Sam RockwellDVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Color, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 88 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-03-21
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Fox Lorber
DVD Reviews of Drunks
DVD Review: A GREAT START BUT, JUST A LITTLE TOO SCRIPTED, FLAKY & FAKE FOR ME!
Summary: 3 Stars
I give Drunks 3 stars because, it is good. I think seeing this move might help a certain subgroup of people seek help. I like that Drunks tried to give the viewer a almost real time sense of what it feels like to attend an AA meeting. Drunks gave a really good way too scripted shallow picture of what it is like to attend an AA meeting, from setup to finish. A few of the people standing up and giving their stories were good. Others were just a bit too shallow enough that the person felt unrealistic.
Drunks felt very very scripted as if the director and cast were hell bent on getting a laboratory perfected version of what an Alcoholics Annonomous Meeting should be like. The problem with Drunks over concern with presenting an accurate picture of an AA meeting on DVD is it acheived perfect accuracy by sacrficing the authenticity of the speakers. Too many of the speakers had absolutely nothing of value to say and were given way too much on screen time to say it. Most AA meetings are attended by people who strive to keep it real because, they have better things to do in life than listen to the total cops outs and crap some but not all of the AA meeting attendees had to say. The director of drunks should have just kept it real and let the chips fall where they may. Not even the best Hollywood writer can faithfully reproduce the events or lessons found in a real alcoholics life or recovery. The weird life hard core Drunks live is just too far out there for a sober person to write about with the same passion, conviction and familiarity that an alcoholic has based on every day experience. Three stars for accurate AA meeting format... two stars deducted because, the movie did not include drunks who could keep it real! Maybe I am wrong but I figured keeping the stories shared real is an important part of the AA experience.
In the cases where Drunks did not work was when the people did not feel like fully fleshed out human beings. The passion was there but their was no depth or insight into what made the person tick beyond their heavy dialogue. What makes a person appear "real in movies are the subtle little things". Humans are very intellegent people, we notice the little gestures, the hair twirling, the slight curl or quiver of the lip when emotions are stirred.
Thats where Drunks fails to accurately protrsy the AA experience. There are often many subtext's and personal interplays among audience members. Also there were no keep it real people who say something pointed to kind of give folk a gentle nudge when they start copping out. I mean I know you can't attack someones cop out directly at AA meetings but, in most meetings someone usually counters with something even in a subtle way that gets the group back to keeping it real.
I liked seeing the one dude fall off the wagon get wasted and climb back on at the end with another group it might not have been a really happy ending but it was sort of real. If I had done this movie I would have made the AA scenes more subtle and real. I would have had two group members lose it and fall off the wagon. They both would have reverted to old druggie \ whino ways which I would have given more insight too. I would have had both backsliders paths crossing as one lay dying from abuse of drugs and booze driving the other to find a new AA group meeting with the movie closing as he starts the AA process all over again. Drunks was ok far as it went. Drunks is hardly a waste of money because, its message while not strong as it could have been is potent and there for all who need to hear it. I am happy to have drunks in my collection as a tool to help others.
It let me peek inside an AA meeting and not being a Drunk myself I never had reason to visit one.
Description of Drunks
Who knew comedian Richard Lewis could act? There is no plot to speak of in this character study, which follows AA members who meet in a Times Square basement to bare their souls. The performances, however, are dazzling. A sparse plot follows Lewis through one dark, soul-searching night in which he questions his life, his choices, and his sobriety. The direction is minimal, but Faye Dunaway, Spalding Gray, Parker Posey, Amanda Plummer, Dianne Wiest, and Howard Rollins bring out the intense emotions and dark, bitter humor of Gary Lennon's play, Blackout. We could have used more time with all of them, however, as the only fully realized character is played by Lewis. --Rochelle O'GormanBestsellers in DVD
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