smashed film smashed american drama film directed written starring paul play married couple kate series embarrassing incidents caused drinking habit kate decides sober help sponsor script partly based experience giving alcohol young age felt narrative told film wrote script months main roles cast september film budget financed independent investors including owner shot los_angeles october premiered film festival january released october film received positive reviews performance receiving unanimous praise nominated awards acting plot elementary school teacher arrives work class asked student pregnant pretends continues lie school principal barnes worker dave reveals knows drinking makes swear tell attending party husband charlie brother owen kate drinks heavily leaving meets woman asks kate ride kate offered crack high morning kate wakes street finds car drives home charlie acknowledges sex charlie passes kate heads buy wine turned floor bathroom door locked steals bottle wine waking kate realizes passed work dave recovering alcoholic invites anonymous meeting befriends chosen passion food cooking alcohol kate decides sober change life kate home makes offensive comment kate charlie visit estranged alcoholic mother kate mentions meetings skeptical kate father left getting sober lives state shiny new family kate surprised day thrown baby shower colleagues dave putting comments home kate angry clear charlie told owen friend kate smoking crack night charlie sexual advances school kate questioned curious student gaining weight subsequently students accuse killing baby kate tells charlie feels confess barnes truth faked pregnancy charlie warning lose job begin fight financial issues kate depend charlie parents money struggled life kate decides tell barnes truth fired bar dave drive home starts altercation charlie time kate speaks meeting celebrating year charlie gets trouble riding bicycle drunk kate visits charlie play charlie asks begins going meetings kate says sober charlie asks kate play round chance film ends kate gives answer cast aaron paul principal barnes amber production smashed conceived conversation things drunk story details based experience alcoholic years old started attending meetings felt experiences alcoholism represented film decided write young woman deciding sober discussed story characters tone detail began write script lived opposite sides united_states communicated email dividing script page installments wrote alternately entire writing process took months casting negotiations film main roles played took place september prepare role talked recovery attended variety meetings spoke young women gotten sober act drunk method described book power actor paul said preparation film recorded getting severely studied footage order build paul got drunk night filming began described smashed filmed los_angeles days october shot budget sourced producers independent including owner release box office smashed premiered film festival january screened athens film festival bought film distribution rights premiere gave limited release october opening weekend film grossed theaters averaging theater ranking number box office film earned domestically weeks release widest release theaters earned internationally total gross critical response film received generally positive reviews critics rotten_tomatoes holds rating based reviews average score metacritic gave film score based reviews variety critic commended smashed sheer emotional optimistic sympathetic approach story new_york_times praised film neutral tone taste details similarly empire magazine commended film avoiding clichés combining light frank comic touch real emotion human performances involved gave stars review hollywood reporter praised smashed emotional intimacy realism received critical acclaim role film critic roger_ebert gave film stars wrote sort wonderful movie worn warm commended decision portray character victim rolling_stone described performance unforgettable praising comedy intellect simultaneously brought role san_francisco_chronicle felt striking kate speculated smashed prove doorway great things career hand writing washington_post gave film stars dramatic public service announcement narrative slant_magazine opined story film offers cheap easy sort inspiration lieu genuine inquiry recovery process austin chronicle find film writing filmmakers preaching choir portrayal alcoholism recovery accolades smashed premiered film festival nominated grand jury prize dramatic category producers received nomination special jury prize excellence nominated received nomination black reel awards work film casting directors nominated casting society america award low budget feature comedy drama category soundtrack soundtrack accompany film released digitally october features mix film original score composed music artists heard portions film
Smashed (film)