In contrast to the title, there is truly little “good” about this film. Kunis and Close can’t even make this film memorable… and they tried.
It was all set up to be a really heartfelt film; powerful and meaningful, with a strong cast and based off a true story – an article written for the Washington Post by co-writer Eli Saslow called “How’s Amanda? A Story of Truth, Lies and an American Addiction”. Instead, what we got was a boring, over the top melodrama, where one character feels sorry for themselves for just over an hour and their mother – the biggest hypocrite going – chastises her from up on her high horse. The story revolves around Molly (Kunis), a 30 odd year-old addict who goes to visit her mother Deb (Close) who makes her go to a detox clinic for the 15th time! Putting herself forward for a new trial therapy, Molly must stay sober for 4 days which leads her to staying at Debs, where they get up to a whole host of antics, mostly crying and shouting. Mila Kunis is good as the pathetic addict – really looking the part – and Glenn Close plays the overbearing, judgmental mum with her “can I speak to the manager” haircut.
Directed and co-written by Rodrigo García (who directed Nine Lives and Mother and Child) which explore similar themes – something tells me he loves the drama of a mother and daughter at their wits end. Four Good Days is another that premiered at Sundance earlier this year to an obvious mixed reception, it is also the 4th time García has teamed up with Glenn Close (not all of them being good). The film is let down by a few things, the dialogue is poor; you have two good leading ladies and offer them a steaming pile of rubbish interactions, they try their best (they are professionals to be fair), but give them a hand at least, please. On top of that, their emotions seemed way over the top, almost unbearably over the top. This is based on a true story, and you get the feeling that the real people did not even act this agonisingly extra.
Four Good Days begins with Molly turning up to her mother Debs house, looking like she has not washed for a few weeks and without any of her own teeth (heroin really is not a good look), Deb refuses to let her in, ordering her to go to a detox centre. After spending a few days in the centre, she is put forward for a new state of the art therapy drug, but here is the killer, she must stay sober for a week, or it could cause illness. Molly moves in with her Mum and stepdad Chris (played by Stephen Root, who is incredibly underused in this film) where they attempt to reminisce about the good old days, leading to some intimate moments which are ruined by the score, as music comes in and out at the most inconvenient times, giving it that corny melodrama feel.
The mother daughter duo argues a lot throughout – who can shout the loudest it seems. Deb is a very unlikeable character; shouts at her husband (it makes him relevant at least), treats her daughter like a child, drinks more than a fish, self-centred, paranoid, I could go on, but we have a film to talk about. Then there is Molly, a pathetic character; full of self-loathing, full of lies and deceit, taking her mum on a merry dance – she might be a pain in the neck, but she does not deserve that. With the duo edging closer and closer to the finish line – basically crawling now – almost home and free, things begin to take a turn for the worse. The lies and deceit have spread like a disease now, and they are both caught up in a desperate lie that could catch up to them in the most horrendous way. Does life sort itself out for these dramatic women? Or will they have to live with the burden of treachery for ever?
I was not a fan of this film – as you can probably tell – it was just an average drama with no real defining qualities to it, which is a shame as the story is a much more interesting one than what was portrayed on the screen. This kind of story is a problem that occurs across the world, but especially in America where there is a huge drug problem. Films like; Requiem for a Dream and Ben Is Back expertly show the effects drugs can have on a family, and I just did not get that same feeling from Four Good Days. The two leads were obviously the best thing about it; Glenn Close is a cinema legend and Mila Kunis has become a very established and well-rounded actor as well, they carry this film on their backs – I am surprised they didn’t injure themselves – but because of the multitude of problems this film has, the two of them just aren’t enough.
Four Good Days can be rented from Amazon Prime now.
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