Spiritual cousin to Red Rocket and addition to the Misunderstood Dirtbag collection. An unsurprisingly PHENOMENAL performance by Andrea Riseborough with a shockingly good performance by Marc Maron

Fantastic! We all seen movies about addiction, this movie retells it in a new light. Strong performances by Andrea Riseborough (Leslie) and stand up comedian Marc Maron. You can't but help to root for Leslie to pick herself back up and fight for a sober day. Incredible movie! Do yourself a favor and watch this film.

A layered, multifaceted performance from Riseborough elevates this slice of life, troubled drama; but the somewhat uninspired screenplay truly limits this from being something special. I felt like I'd seen this movie before, in the sense that I've seen many others tackle similar topics in the exact same way. Unlikeable, deep main character faces their demons and rebuilds what they destroyed; with dramatic character collisions along the way. As said by others, I feel like Red Rocket did this kind of storytelling better, even if that were without the character redemption that can be found here. Something about this movie just felt very paint-by-numbers, with every beat telegraphed from the moment the characters and premise are introduced. That's not to say it's a bad movie, I enjoyed my time with it and I do like these linear, slow burn character dramas more than most. I just think if you're here for anything past Riseboroughs performance, you might be vastly disappointed. [spoiler](Special shout out to the shot towards the end of the movie where Leslie steals Royals hip flask and heads out back. The complete darkness around the diner, with only Leslie lit staring down at her vice was a perfect way of encapsulating that feeling when facing down an addiction. You can almost hear her inner monologue just telling her to give up and take a sip without a single word spoken. That along with her diner outfit being the same colour as her iconic pink suitcase to symbolise this being her new home, her new nesting place was very subtle and I'm a sucker for that stuff 😅) [/spoiler]

Like most people, I watched it because of the hype surrounding Andrea's performance. I didn't think it was anything special. We've seen this kind of "alcoholic in a circle of recovery and relapse" movies many times before.

Riseborough was rightfully nominated for an Oscar for her performance in this film. Special mention must also go to Marc Maron and Owen Teague who also turn in brilliant performances. The film doesn't grab the heart as much as it should but it's still a worthy watch.