Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Thanks for Sharing Blu-ray Movie Review

TMI.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 7, 2014

Billy Wilder broke a few cinematic taboos when he brought The Lost Weekend to the screen in 1945. Prior to this account of an alcoholic writer’s descent into near madness, the use of alcohol on screen was frequently portrayed as just part of the scintillating and glamorous lives that were part and parcel of the typical Hollywood film of the era (think of Nick and Nora and their cocktails in The Thin Man series for a good example). Certainly some films had depicted loutish drunks and people “in their cups”, but never before had such an overt representation of the horrors of this particular kind of addiction been part of a supposedly “mainstream” film. Looking back on The Lost Weekend now with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight and decades of exploitation cinema (and made for television movies) that have ripped the scab off seemingly every conceivable form of “substance” abuse, Wilder’s film can seem almost quaint at times. One thing that even casual observers of this subgenre may find interesting about the Wilder film is the absence of any overt reference to a 12 Step Program, despite the fact that Alcoholics Anonymous had been around for around a decade by the time the film was made, and the 12 Step Program itself had gained traction by the late thirties. Anyone who has seen even a few of the glut of more contemporary outings dealing with this or that addiction issue will know that the 12 Step Program is often front and center in many of the dramas, or at the very least is utilized as a tangent to the main thrust of the plot. Thanks for Sharing reveals the debt it owes to the 12 Step Program in its very title, an allusion to any given “Anonymous” meeting where members recount the trials they’re experiencing and how their attempts to maintain “sobriety” (the term is ported over to each and every addiction, even if drunkenness or getting high isn’t involved) are faring. Thanks for Sharing deals with sex addiction, a subject which also provided fodder for the 2011 Steve McQueen directed Michael Fassbender film Shame. That film took a resolutely serious approach to what some people at least tend to shrug off as a not all that serious “malady”, but Thanks for Sharing seems to want to have it both ways— portraying the anguish of a trio of “recovering” sex addicts while also engaging in about every standard romantic comedy trope imaginable. To say the least, it’s an odd mash up, and the tonal variances in the film give Thanks for Sharing an imbalance that is hard to get past, at least without stumbling along with this often haphazard feeling outing.

The film starts out promisingly enough—and actually somewhat reminiscent of some aspects of Shame—by depicting in rapid fashion the hypersexualized world of Manhattan, where seemingly every billboard and screen around the Big Apple is being utilized to hawk gorgeous (and usually scantily clad) people. Add into that mix the actual real human beings walking by urban professional Adam (Mark Ruffalo), and it becomes at least plausible that some people are overly swayed by this kind of not very subliminal bombardment to the point where they feel they must act on their impulses. We know that Adam is basically a good guy, though, for we’ve already seen him praying—yes, praying—and at his Anonymous meeting (where it seems everyone knows a lot about him, somewhat defeating that Anonymous moniker), he celebrates his fifth year of “sobriety”, meaning no untoward sexual activity. He’s been helped along by his somewhat curmudgeonly sponsor Mike (Tim Robbins, sporting one of the more unfortunate haircuts in recent film history), and Adam in turn is offering a fostering hand to young Emergency Room physician Neil (Josh Gad), who is exactly the kind of “pervert” that women tend to look out for on New York City’s subway system.

When Mike tells Adam that his self-imposed celibacy has to come to an end, and in short order Mike “meets cute” with adorable Phoebe (Gwyneth Paltrow), the film takes the first of its rather severe lurches leeward. Phoebe is recovering from cancer, an actual “real life” sickness with physical symptoms. She also informs Adam in one of their early interchanges that her last boyfriend was an addict and she will never again date anyone with any issues of that type (this is before Adam has discussed his background with her, of course). This kind of artificial plot manipulation is what hampers a lot of romantic comedies, but in a film like this which actually tends to veer more toward the dramatic side of things anyway (despite a pull quote on the cover which claims the film is “laugh out loud funny”), it just seems kind of desperate and overly manipulative. We know going in that Phoebe is going to find out about Adam’s past, there will be a showdown, a falling out, and, most likely, a reconciliation.

Things are handled at least a little more freshly with regard to the stories of Mike and Neil. Neil has been “faking it” at his meetings, claiming to be coming along quite nicely when he’s still massively addicted to porn and also is engaging in a bunch of smarmy behaviors. That tendency finally gets him fired from his cushy job, and he’s finally forced to confront reality, especially when he starts falling for one of the few women in the support group, Dede (Alecia Moore, better known to her legion of music fans as pop star Pink). Mike, meanwhile, is awakened one night by his wife Katie (Joely Richardson) when she hears what she thinks is an intruder downstairs in their house, who turns out to be their drug addict son Danny (Patrick Fugit), who, prodigal style, has returned to the fold and claims to be eight months clean.

Even these plot arcs play out in fairly predictable ways, though the film finally delivers a gut punch late in its running time with a first rate scene between Mike and Danny, when Mike assumes (incorrectly) that Danny has stolen some of Katie’s painkillers. Finally all the psycho-babble and New Age blather about temptation and resolve fade into the woodwork as a father and son literally come to blows over a lifetime of recriminations and bad choices. It’s a really devastating moment in what is otherwise often a trite and actually silly affair.

Thanks for Sharing, for all its dramatic failings, is never less than watchable, though, buoyed by consistently good work from the large and capable ensemble cast. Ruffalo doesn’t quite have the gravitas of Fassbender in Shame, and therefore comes of kind off like a horny preppy rather than a seriously afflicted man. The real surprise here may be Pink (and/or Moore, as the case may be), who really delivers in an underwritten role, managing to convey both a surprising vulnerability and a steely core that makes her one of the most memorable characters and frankly one of the few we actually end up really caring about.

Thanks for Sharing Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Thanks for Sharing is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This Arri Alexa shot feature boasts the typically well detailed look of this format, but it's not quite at the top tier of digitally shots features, perhaps due to the relative inexperience of director Stuart Blumberg and his DP Yaron Orbach, who tend not to really utilize the New York locations fully to their advantage. In fact, the best looking sections of this high definition presentation are indeed when Blumberg and Orbach let the camera roam around Manhattan, capturing the busy cityscape with good depth of field and precise fine detail (see screenshot 14). Too often, though, Blumberg and Orbach opt for medium range shots that never really pop with explosive color or exceptional fine detail. Additionally, some of the interior scenes opt for natural lighting conditions, which can add just a touch of murkiness to the proceedings. All of this said, the transfer here exhibits no egregious artifacting like aliasing, and there is certainly no sign of artificial sharpening. The image is clear, accurate looking and nicely saturated—there just isn't a lot of "wow" factor here.

Note: It's not unusual for Blu-rays to feature supposedly "unskippable" previews, which must be chapter-skipped through to finally reach the Main Menu. This is the first Lionsgate title I can personally recall, where the first several previews are indeed able to be chapter-skipped, until the last one (for Girl Most Likely), which can not be chapter-skipped past. In order to quickly get through that particular preview, it's necessary to fast forward.

Thanks for Sharing Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Much like the video component, Thanks for Sharing's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is perfectly professional and nice sounding, though, again, there isn't anything here that is going to knock the average audiophile's socks (and/or ears) off. Dialogue is presented very cleanly and clearly, with some good directionality (listen to the nice placement of the bickering neighbors that Mike and Danny always overhear as they're in their backyard). Perhaps surprisingly, this film isn't awash with source cues (which I personally consider a good thing), and so most of the immersion here comes courtesy of the ambient environmental noise in New York City. A nice scene with Neil trying to get to his meeting on a bicycle highlights what this film's sound mix does best—render the distant chaos of a frenetic urban environment with nice attention to spatial placement. Fidelity is excellent throughout this track, though dynamic range is relatively limited.

Thanks for Sharing Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Filmmaker Commentary features writer-director Stuart Blumberg along with Matt Winston, co-writer. These two take a few minutes to actually introduce themselves, and the first part of the commentary is fairly nonsensical, but then the two get into things like the casting process and the location footage. However, a lot of this commentary ends up being simply descriptions of what we're seeing on screen.


• Gags (1080p; 2:39)


• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 9:49)


• One Step at a Time: Making of Thanks for Sharing (1080p; 15:19) is standard EPK fare with interviews with the cast and crew interspersed with snippets from the film.

Thanks for Sharing Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Thanks for Sharing never really works as a cogent experience, and it's tonally unbalanced to the point of falling over (much like Neil on a bike). But the game cast makes this film seem better than it actually is. Ruffalo and Paltrow make an obviously attractive lead couple, and Robbins is quite effective as the tamped down Mike. But the real honors here go to Pink and to Patrick Fugit, in two ostensibly supporting roles which turn out to be the real emotional center of the film. It's hard to outright recommend this rambling film, but the technical merits are solid if unspectacular for those with a particular interest in this title.