Thanks for Sharing - Movie Review

Sex addiction seems to be Hollywood's newest obsession with the dramatic comedy "Thanks for Sharing," the drama "Shame," the comedy "Don Jon," and television's "Californication." Although writer-director Stuart Blumberg surely had good intentions for his film "Thanks for Sharing," its focus is too broad to satisfy most movie goers. Perhaps that's the secret of success for those other productions about sex addiction: a narrowed focus on one person and one addiction.

Thanks for Sharing (which gets its name from the meeting mantra expressed by recovering addicts) explores three men in a sex addiction recovery group and to a lesser extent one woman. The film looks briefly at their romantic relationships, families, friendships with each other, symptoms, temptations, and the overall group dynamics. That's a lot to cover in 112 minutes - too much, in fact.

The Story of Three Addicts

Mark Ruffalo stars as Adam, a recovering sex addict who is five years "sober." He's embarking on a new romance with Phoebe (Gwyneth Paltrow), a beautiful cancer-surviving over-achiever. She immediately reveals her breasts are fake because the old ones tried to kill her. However, Adam gives an evasive half-truth when she asks him if he's an alcoholic because she wants to avoid addicts like her ex-boyfriend. His initial secret will obviously surface later at the most inconvenient time possible. We learn almost nothing about Phoebe's history or why she consistently attracts addicts into her life, nor does Adam share the story of how his addiction originated.

His sponsor, Mike (Tim Robbins, whose performance is exceptionally strong here), gave his wife (Joely Richardson) a disease through his former sex addiction (now 12 years sober) and deals ineffectively with his grown son (Patrick Fugit), who has an ongoing drug addiction. While Mike remains the 12-Step guru at their daily meetings, he's often out of control with his family. The hints of family dysfunction could be a movie entirely by themselves.

Then there's Neil (Josh Gad), a pervert just beginning rehab who rubs against women on the subway and films up his boss's skirt. After a court order to attend the meetings and an embarrassing firing from work (he was employed as an emergency room doctor at a hospital), Neil hits rock bottom and finally recognizes his need for help. Obese, out of shape, and constantly sweaty (the main source of humor in this comedy), he has a strange relationship with his mother (Carol Kane), which is not developed enough to provide insight into his disturbing behaviors.

Strength in Numbers

Neil befriends a newbie to the group, Dede (Alecia Moore a.k.a the singer Pink) who comes to the group for freedom from her nightmarish addiction. Together the two friends are much stronger than they are when apart. Once again, this developing platonic relationship could have been its own movie. We learn nearly nothing about Dede except during her initial admission at the meeting that she's a sex addict and craves her abusive ex-boyfriend.

While acting is top-notch throughout, there's just not enough meat on these bones to make a meal. Had the film focused on one family, one relationship, manifestations of the addiction, treatment of the addiction, or the origin of the addiction, audiences would have a more satisfying experience. As it is, we are given just enough information about the characters to pique our interest, but not enough to really care about any of them. Unfortunately Thanks for Sharing raises more questions than it answers.

Thanks for Sharing

• Three male sex addicts in various stages of recovery develop relationships between themselves and others with mixed results.
• Starring Mark Ruffalo, Tim Robbins, Gwyneth Paltrow, Josh Gad, Joely Richardson, Alecia Moore, Patrick Fugit, Carol Kane, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Emily Meade
• Director: Stuart Blumberg
• Writers: Stuart Blumberg, Matt Winston
• Genre: Comedy/Drama
• Run Time: 112 minutes
• MPAA Rating: R (for language and strong sexual content)