Category: Movies

Vanity Fair caught up with Mary & Breaking Bad‘s Aaron Paul where the two talked about the film Smashed.

Also, Vogue called Mary one of the women on the verge after her performance in Smashed:

Mary Elizabeth Winstead shines as an alcoholic grade-school teacher who’s locked in a life of excessive drinking with her slacker husband, played by Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul. Realizing she’s totally out of control, she decides to stop drinking, but the problem is that stopping drinking doesn’t end all her other problems. In fact, it actually causes some, as her sobriety annoys her hard-drinking mom (Mary Kay Place) and starts eating away at her marriage to a man who doesn’t want to stop drinking. All of this is rather familiar, but director James Ponsoldt (who cowrote the movie with Susan Burke) has a nice, sensible touch. The movie is bracingly funny, and Winstead, who’s had smaller roles in movies like Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof, takes this chance to play the lead and runs with it. She nails both her character’s run-amok irresponsibility and the ruefulness that comes with it. I won’t be surprised to see her win an acting prize here and look forward to seeing her again.

So glad that with each Sundance screening, it’s been undeniable that Mary’s performance in Smashed is amazing and critics seem to agree. I’ve been posting numerous reviews from people who’ve seen the film, and they all seem to enjoy the film. Here’s the latest review, first one coming from Cinema Blend:

It wouldn’t be Sundance without a harrowing drama about addiction, and as far as those kinds of movies go, Smashed has the goods. The primary appeal is the lead performance from Mary Elizabeth Winstead, the beauty known for intriguing roles in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and The Thing, who plays a woman spiraling into alcoholism who finally realizes she needs help. She and her husband (Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul) have spent years drinking way too much and having plenty of fun together, but one particularly brutal hangover at work one morning puts the gears in motion for Winstead’s Kate to finally make a change.

Thankfully Smashed doesn’t wallow too long in the “rock bottom” part of the story, allowing us to watch Kate indulging in some truly bad behaviors– smoking crack and spending a night on the street being the worst– but focusing the story around her efforts to recover, particularly AA meetings and new friendships with other recovering alcoholics played by Nick Offerman and Octavia Spencer. The biggest heartbreak of the film comes from the way her staying sober begins to break apart her marriage; Paul and Winstead make it obvious why these two love each other, but also why a sober wife and a drunk husband can’t find common ground.

Smashed, which doesn’t yet have distribution but surely will soon, will be sold based on Winstead’s performance, and though it verges into some histrionics from time to time, Winstead commits full-throttle, and shines even in the smaller moments, especially when put together with Paul. Though the film’s story could have been a little cleaner and more authentic, the details are all correct, and it’s always good to see talented actors stretch a little, especially given Nick Offerman’s recent fame as the utterly different Ron Swanson on Parks & Recreation. With a little more humor than your average addiction drama, and a willingness to have hope for its characters, Smashed has real emotional weight without putting you through the wringer– not a small bonus at this point in a long, long film festival.

Joblo also reviews the film, but since it’s pretty lengthy, I’ll only post a bit of it but click on the link to read it in full:

Continue reading More Great Reviews for Smashed

Yeah, Mary! In a new interview with Elle, the site & Sundance Film Festival all agree on one thing–Mary’s the festival’s “Sundance darling.”

Listen closely to the whispers at various Sundance events this week and you’re likely to hear the name Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

Starring in James Ponsoldt’s Smashed, the 27-year-old actress—previous credits include Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World and Live Free or Die Hard—plays Kate, an alcoholic whose relationship with her husband Charlie (Breaking Bad‘s Aaron Paul) is based on their mutual addiction. When Kate decides to get sober, the foundation of their marriage is called into question. Winstead’s controlled and affecting performance has already elicited phrases like “breakout performance” and “Sundance darling” from audiences; Rosemarie DeWitt, who’s here starring in Nobody Walks, told us, “She’s incredible. Just go see it.”

We did. Then we asked Winstead a few questions.

ELLE: Who are Kate and Charlie?
MEW: For a young couple they are really a lot of fun, but their whole marriage is really based around drinking. At a certain point, Kate’s life starts to spiral out of control and she decides to get sober. But Charlie is not really on board because he loves the life they have together. So the film is about them trying to make their relationship work in spite of these challenges. It’s a role that was totally challenging and terrifying to me in a lot of ways. I really wanted it.

ELLE: What was it like acting opposite Jesse Pinkman?
MEW: [Laughs] It was amazing. He’s so warm and giving and willing to do whatever for the sake of the character. That’s exactly what you need when you do a film like this. He was just so kind and when you play this kind of part you really want to make sure you’re surrounded by people you feel comfortable around. But it’s so funny walking around with him here—he gets stopped constantly!

ELLE: Is this your first time at Sundance?
MEW: I actually grew up in Salt Lake City so I used come and walk around Main Street, but this is my first time here as an actress. The premiere last night was just so incredible and emotional. It was one of the best moments…ever. But it was such a nerve-racking and emotional day that at the end of it all I was exhausted. I just went home and crashed.

ELLE: Are there other films or performances you’re most excited to see?
MEW: I have a lot of friends who have films this year so it’s really exciting. My friend Aubrey [Plaza] has Safety Not Guaranteed. Mark Webber has three films here! I want to see Nobody Walks and Hello, I Must be Going. I’m staying through the end so I’m going to try to see it all later this week.

ELLE: The red carpets here are pretty casual. Was it hard deciding what to pack for your first Sundance?
MEW: It’s definitely hard to be super high fashion because you have to be functional. But I brought things that had a bit of a pattern or a pop of color to bring a bit of interest to what I’m wearing. And obviously you need a good parka and good boots—then you’re set.

A new video interview from the Sundance channel has been uploaded, where the SMASHED cast all talk about what attracted them to the film and their roles. In the interview, Mary admitted she didn’t think she’d get the part because she was always up for parts where people didn’t think she’d be “edgy or dark enough.”

I do wish the interview had been longer though. The best part of the interview is that we get to see two new stills of Mary in the film. Check out the video below for yourself:

Pictures from that interview are here.

Variety has posted a new video interview of Mary and her SMASHED co-stars talking about their roles in the film and how they enjoyed working on the film.

And in case you haven’t seen them, you can see the pics from that interview here.

Yay, Mary! Today, a couple of new reviews post-Smashed screening over at Sundance FF 2012 have been published, and they’re nothing short of amazing. Here’s the first one via Slashfilm:

Filmmaker James Ponsoldt‘s feature debut Off The Black premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006. It was met with a lackluster response, but everyone seemed to praise the performances despite the troubled screenplay. After seeing last year’s heavily buzzed-about film Like Crazy, Mary Elizabeth Winstead contacted producer Jonathan Schwartz and Andrea Sperling because she wanted to be in a film like the one they produced. This year, Ponsoldt, Schwartz and Sperling returned to Park City Utah with Smashed, which features a must-see tour de force performance from Winstead.

The character-driven script follows a teacher dealing with alcoholism, and the problems that her marriage poses in her efforts to become sober. Winstead plays the teacher, and Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) plays her almost-always drunk husband. The story is basic and obvious (as in that it has the standard after school special character arc) but the details are polished and authentic-feeling.

The screenplay also features some nice moments of comedy. For example, when Winstead’s character turns up hungover to work and vomits in front of her class, she lies about being pregnant to keep her job. This lie snowballs into some funny bits later on. The fact that the film has comedic moments shouldn’t be surprising considering it was co-written by sketch comic Susan Burke.

But the film is Mary Elizabeth Winstead‘s to own. Winstead’s performance is powerful, moving — a must see. It will bring you to verge of tears. Aaron Paul has a nice turn, but nothing out of the realm that we’ve seen in Breaking Bad. It’s also worth noting that Octavia Spencer (The Help) has a nice supporting performance.

/Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Continue reading More Awesome Reviews of Mary’s SMASHED Performance!