Directed by: Glenn Gordon Caron
Starring: Michael Keaton, Kathy Baker, Morgan Freeman
Clean And Sober opens as Daryl Poynter (Keaton) wakes up with a hangover, a phone call questioning the whereabouts of money in an escrow account, and a dead woman in his bed. To deal with all of this, he does some lines of coke before calling the police. Because coke is what allows him to function, he needs to do it. Daryl is at the point in which every minute of his day is spent in the quest of finding more cocaine and figuring out how to pay for it. His credit cards are maxed out, his dealer to whom he owes money to hangs up on him, and the money he embezzled from the escrow account has been severly depleted by stock market losses, but who knows if that is even true. Yet, he doesn't admit to a problem because, according to what a sponsor says later in the film, "You're not an addict because you're not dead? Is that what you think?"
Clean And Sober is an absorbing film about an addict and the beginning of his recovery. It also is about the other addicts he comes in contact with that help to shape that recovery and make it successful. As the film opens, Daryl hears about a rehab program and enters it as a way to dodge the trouble he is in. He is a real-estate broker who is successful, but due to his addiction, he probably won't be doing that much longer. The police may arrest him because the girl in his bed died from an overdose and the girl's father posts flyers all over his development calling him a murderer. During his first few days in the rehab, he tries desperately to use the phone and have drugs shipped to him. This catches the eye of rehab counselor Craig (Freeman), who has seen it all and heard it all, so nothing Daryl does surprises him. But yet, day by day, Daryl unwittingly becomes clean.
Because the film was made in the late 80s, a time in which afterschool specials and nighttime soaps ruled TV screens, you would think Clean And Sober would be treated in melodramatic fashion in which all of Daryl's problems are cleaned up and he lives happily ever after. Not the case here. What makes Clean And Sober work is that it focuses not only on Daryl, but another recovering addict named Charlie (Baker), a woman who can't say no to drugs, alcohol, or her ex-con husband who does everything in the house you shouldn't do if you live with an addict.
Charlie works in a steel mill, owns a home, and otherwise would be happy except that she allows herself to be manipulated by her husband, who pulls out all of the tricks to keep her in their unhappy home. Daryl thinks he can save her, but as Daryl's sponsor Richard (M. Emmet Walsh-great here) says, "It's conceited to think you could do something. Could anyone have stopped your addiction?" Walsh's Richard is a friendly, but no-nonsense sponsor who has a habit of always making sense even when Daryl's world doesn't.
The performances are all strong here. Keaton was known mostly for comedies before this film and goes from obnoxious cokehead who will stoop to any depths to feed his habit to a stronger person who can say no in spite of life's problems. Baker and Freeman both play people who are wise to Daryl in different ways. Baker is especially sympathetic because she doesn't even realize what a trap she's in. At least Daryl can see the trap for what it is.
The ending of Clean And Sober has Daryl earning his 30 days sober chip at an AA meeting. A lot has happened to him in 30 days and there is still much to clean up, but he is hopeful. Considering where he came from in the beginning of the film, seeing him in that frame of mind was uplifting and moving. George Carlin was once asked about how cocaine made him feel, he replied, "It makes you feel like having more cocaine." This film understands that and made me understand it as well.
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