| “Thanks for Sharing” follows a group of men who meet at a sex addicts anonymous meeting. Mike (Tim Robbins) is the veteran, who is married and has been on the road of recovery for a long time. The film opens with Adam’s (Mark Ruffalo) five year anniversary with Tim as his sponsor. And Neil (Josh Gad) is the new-comer. He wants Adam to be his sponsor, but what he really wants is to pretend that he’s not an addict but continue behaving in inappropriate ways. | | 2012
Directed by: Stuart Blumberg
Screenplay by: Stuart Blumberg, Matt Winston
Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Tim Robbins, Josh Gad and Gwyneth Paltrow
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| Adam (Mark Ruffalo) and Mike (Tim Robbins). Courtesy of Mongrel Media. |
The film is advertised as a romantic comedy, and that’s probably the best way to enjoy it; otherwise it’s a drama about self-righteous people who don’t know how to keep it in their pants. Adam meets Phoebe (Gwyneth Paltrow), who he thinks is perfect for him but he hasn’t been with a girl in years, and she doesn’t date addicts. Mike has been able to repair his marriage, but he’s too self-righteous to recognize the difficult path that he put his son on. Danny (Patrick Fugit) is Mike’s son and is the second best character in the movie. He used to be a drug addict but claims he’s clean and sober and is just trying to get his life back on track. Mike doesn’t believe him and doesn’t care to help him, but at least we care about Danny and Danny cares about himself.
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| Neil (Josh Gad) and Dede (Alecia Moore). Courtesy of Mongrel Media. |
The best character in the movie, or at least the best main character in the movie, is Josh Gad’s Neil. He starts out as the guy who masturbates at the sight of a hot girl on the street, gyrates up against hot girls on the subway, and sets up cameras to look up skirts of hot girls at work. It takes him awhile to realize that this is not an appropriate way to live life, but he approaches maturity in a very humorous and very realistic manner. His storylines are funny and he was able to make his character empathetic. Josh Gad will be the next Jonah Hill and I can’t wait to see his career develop.
“Thanks for Sharing” also marks Stuart Blumberg’s directorial debut. He’s a very good comedy-drama writer, responsible for such hits as “The Girl Next Door” (2004) and “The Kids Are All Right” (2010). The subject matter for this film makes it a step back for him, at least character-wise, but the point (at least as I picked up on it) is that everybody is an addict of something. At least Gad provides some humour and Fugit provides some drama before we get to that point.
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