America’s on-going opioid crisis gets more big screen treatment, though more time worn than recent depictions like Beautiful Boy and, more so, Ben is Back.
The wavering, less sappy screenplay from Garcia and Eli Saslow become more contrived despite good intentions and committed turns by Kunis (Black Swan, Bad Moms) and Close (who fell short again at he Oscar for Hillbilly Elegy opposite Amy Adams.
The familial set up is a refreshing element with obdurateness concerning homelessness and major substance abuse that includes “heroin, methadone, Vicodin, some crack and Adderall.” Over a dozen relapses leads Molly to have “‘just one more chance’ with Close’s Deb who finally acquiesces to a last ditch sobering effort in a local rehab facility. When she cold have been easily remanded into an asylum for lurid living throughout as she is a mother herself with two kids after a failed marriage.
Seeing Molly at first makes those Doritos commercials with hubby Ashton Kutcher appreciate the glamour of the former Ukraine model. The sordid, almost toothless woman finds out the locks have been changed as a relationshIp will be put to the test while going through an injection after the seemingly endless (for the user) titular period.
The bond invested in Molly and Deb may cause audiences to lose patience like the latter as an emotional nucleus loses its potency. Molly is occupied with a tricky puzzle ‘and a beeping door alarm are part of the pat ways complemented by Stephen Root as a spousal reminder of what has and still can go wrong.
Garcia, who has previously provided Close with some good roles in the past allows her noticeable stentorian force with a capable Kunis, But, the result too often feels bound to convention and stagy given the director’s attentiveness to a subject that could use less shrill cinematic inspiration.