A film about confessions and personal honesty - so its time I did as well. Although I can't directly relate as substance abuse has never been a problem with myself or any of my immediate family members this film is one of my absolute favorite movies of all time. I've seen it at least 8 times - the characters lines and gestures are virtually memorized - yet I continue to extol it - marveling at each subsequent viewing. As far as addiction films go - this, in my opinion, is the best ever made on a large screen - eclipsing everything past the unforgettable performance by Milland in Wilder's The Lost Weekend to Lemmon and Remick's tearful Days of Wine and Roses and further beyond to the intensely graphic Requiem for a Dream. It at least deserves strong mention in this respective category.

Firstly the performances - I've always rated Michael Keaton as an incredibly competent actor, add-in Kathy Baker, Morgan Freeman, M. Emmet Walsh - who require no hyperboles as to their unselfish talents... but it is those under-recognized performances that root Clean and Sober to its high acclaim. The dependency problem of Keaton's character builds momentum - encouraged by the total ignorance of his own addiction - smooth talking Daryl Poynter enters a rehabilitation clinic as a refuge to avoid legal (girl OD'ing in his bed) and fiduciary responsibilities (embezzling money for cocaine) in his life that have escalated to be totally unmanageable. He has no idea he is an alcoholic or drug addict, and what he fears, prior to checking in, is not giving a realistic enough representation of one to allow entry to the facility. The clinic's usually unkempt councilor, played by Freeman, is about as perfect casting as I can ever remember - he is so believable that if you didn't know him as an actor you would swear it was his chosen profession. Clean and Sober may gel so well because of the awesome supporting cast - Walsh, Baker, Freeman - who parallel the support Daryl Poynter requires. Keaton walks the line between a vacancy in his always reliable charisma and desperate selfishness to ease his current load - if only temporarily. This is a man who has burned all his bridges and has no energy left to build more. The scene of his late night desperation phone call to his mother is indelibly printed on my memory banks - its morose impact weighs heavily on me to this day. All-in-all this is Keaton's film - appearing in pretty much every frame - and advancing his character through a minefield of emotions from moral bankruptcy to baby-steps toward redemption.

Strangely, director Glenn Gordon Caron, his first feature effort, never returned to dramatic cinema - making a string of light comedy films and then moving onto to TV.

Obviously, my lofty perceptions are not shared by many although most critics do rate Clean and Sober quite highly. I'll go one step further with a resounding out of , perhaps in an effort to balance the scales - although it is easily worth it in my opinion. Don't miss under-appreciated gem of character-driven cinema.

 Gary Tooze