Let’s talk about sex addiction baby

Thanks for Sharing

Director: Stuart Blumberg Writers: Stuart Blumberg, Matt Winston Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Gwyneth Paltrow, Josh Gad, Alecia Moore, Tim Robbins, Joely Richardson Runtime: 112 minutes Certification: 15

Everything that Shame was, Thanks for Sharing is not. Whereas we saw Michael Fassbender spiral wildly out of control in Steve McQueen’s harrowing sex-addiction drama, Ruffalo and Paltrow star as the couple to root for in this light and often fluffy romantic comedy dealing with the same subject matter. Adam (the effortlessly good Ruffalo) has been “sober” for five years now: and in sex addiction terms, this means no pornography, no prostitutes, and no one-night-stands. His sponsor Mike (Robbins) encourages him to start dating again, given how much change he’s shown over the years in their 12-step recovery programme, which is when he meets Phoebe (Paltrow), a fitness freak, at a bug-eating party (no joke).

Their relationship develops, and eventually the dreaded time comes for Adam to come clean about his secret to the unsuspecting Phoebe who describes herself as a sexual person and wants to give him a cringe-worthy lap-dance showing off her impeccable figure. Will they survive this and will Adam be able to keep his sobriety going and not resort back to his old habits when there are so many distracting triggers around him in everyday life?

Phoebe and Adam’s romance is the “sweet” part of the film. Elsewhere in the recovery process is the porn-addicted, stress/guilt-eating Neil (Gad, of ‘The Book of Mormon’ fame), whose friendship with fellow sex addict Dede (Alecia Moore aka the singer P!nk- who, if she ever needs a career transition, should definitely give acting a go, given her impressive debut performance here) is where the film finds its space for most of the humour.

Mike, Adam’s sponsor, also has his share of drama to handle mostly stemming from his family. His recovering addict son returns out of the blue claiming that he has truly kicked the habit this time. His mother, Mike’s wife Katie (Richardson, who looks so much like her mother Vanessa Redgrave that it’s almost scary in certain shots) believes him, but Mike refuses to let his son back in. This strand deals with the moving drama as family tension escalates and goes to all the familiar places of loud drama and harsh words.

Overall the three main plots that we follow achieve what they originally set out to do. They generate an adequate number of laughs and they move. Sure it’s often contrived, and doesn’t delve too deep into the real issue at hand, aside from Ruffalo explaining a thing or two about his addiction. There are even a couple of scenes that step away from the breezy atmosphere to portray something more honest and painful about being a sex addict but it’s clear from the get-go that this isn’t something the film wants to spend too much time exploring.

Ultimately everything means well, and by addressing a taboo subject the director has done well not to make light of a serious condition people suffer. It provides a very optimistic, hopeful view for those involved, and whilst the actual recovery process cannot seriously be as sugar-coated and colourful as what is shown here, the certain element of a feel-good factor delivered by the stellar cast is worth getting invested in.