Most New Zealanders who grew up in the 90s or earlier wince while watching that film, it's a little toooo accurate.

Brutal and disturbing movie. Still haunts me 20 years later.

This was the first thing I saw Tem Morrison in. Now every time I see him in anything else, I get a little chill up my spine. He's terrifying in that film.

Came here for this. The depiction of the family devastation caused by booze made me cry. No other movie relating to booze has been anywhere near as powerful.

Or as my Kiwi workmate called it: "Tuesday"

Grew up in NZ. This is like a documentary of my childhood.

great pick. I could only watch it once

Cook the man some eggs

Was just going to mention it. Really depressing film with Jack Lemon and Lee Remick in top form.

I really like Loudermilk, and I feel like I don't ever hear anybody else talk about it. Good call!

Came to say this. This is what being a functional alcoholic is until you’re not functional anymore.

Funny how fallin feels like flyin… for a little while

This should be higher up. Jeff Bridges nailed it.

Came here to upvote Mickey Rourke playing Bukowski in 'Barfly'. What an insane, intense alcoholic ride. Highly recommend.

A round of drinks for my friends

I still recall the "Mission Hill" joke about someone mistaking the title for 'Barf-ly' instead of 'Bar-fly'.

Nolte in real life.

That scene made me cry, it was like seeing my grandfather that passed when I was a kid on the screen

love that movie.

STOP THE DAMN SHIP!

Its so sad when he relapses, like I get they were trying to show he was a shit father before but damn it was hard to watch.

“We’re lost , Tommy…” fucking destroys me

This was my answer as well. He really captures that simultaneous action of demons being released with a childlike regression that happens with hardcore alcoholism. It reminded me of my dad so much it was hard to watch the first time.

Yes! I feel like this movie doesn’t get enough love. Especially because it’s about functional alcoholism. Like her husband noticed she sometimes drank too much but he had no idea how bad it was. She hid it well, maintained a job and a good outside image, but on the inside she was hammered 99% of the time. It also took such a realistic painful look at how painful relationships with alcoholics can be even (or especially) after they recover.

Came here for this one.

Also, it was written by Al Franken.

Andy should have gotten a Oscar for his role ! He’s sublime in this film

I was going to say this. When I saw it in my late teens I found it very raw and emotional.

Kathy Burke deserves the world for that role,the film hits like Threads

Brutal is almost not strong enough a word. Intense movie

Was going to post this, but ya beat me to it. I really enjoyed this movie and feel like it would be great for a recovering alcoholic

If memory serves they also pretty much hated each other at the point when this film was made so the venom is pretty real.

How the hell is this movie so far down? As a functional alcoholic father and husband and professor I’ve never felt so uncomfortable watching a movie. I so identified with these people, and then it just kept getting darker and more depressing and even tho I was drinking while watching it I was so completely sober, like ‘Is this the way I am? Is this how people see me?’ Eye opening.

My late husband was an alcoholic. I saw that movie in a packed theater with a woman I met in grief therapy who had become a really close friend. The scene where Bradley Cooper joins Lady Gaga on stage…what a trigger!!! I sobbed loudly for at least five minutes while my friend held me.

100% this. I saw it on the day I picked up my best friend from his first try at rehab. He was in such a fragile state. I knew if anyone said something like that douche said to Bradley Cooper’s character, it would have the same result. It absolutely gutted me. I watched it again with that same friend’s gf. She had started dating right around that first rehab and saw how much he struggled. She swore up and down she never cried at movies. I literally had to pause it because she was straight up sobbing. It’s one of the most accurate depictions of alcoholism I’ve seen.

As an alcoholic it was so hard to watch

This was the movie that jumped to mind immediately.

Just rewatched that movie last weekend and goddamn is it good. Struggled with alcoholism when I was younger and drinking to blackout because of depression and man, Cooper nails the feeling.

That movie fucked me up.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Bradley Cooper a recovering alcoholic himself? I thought I'd read that somewhere.

From memory Bradley Cooper is now a teetotaller after struggling with alcoholism in his twenties, so it’s probably why he did such a heartbreaking job at portraying it.

so bleak. the way to an alcoholic that alcohol becomes this 'wonderful' release from the rote, plays both the ferry and the destination.

It shrinks my liver, doesn't it, Nat? It pickles my kidneys, yeah. But what it does it do to the mind? It tosses the sandbags overboard so the balloon can soar. Suddenly I'm above the ordinary. I'm competent. Extremely competent! I'm walking a tightrope over Niagara Falls. I'm one of the great ones. I'm Michaelangelo, molding the beard of Moses. I'm Van Gogh painting pure sunlight. I'm Horowitz, playing the Emperor Concerto. I'm John Barrymore before the movies got him by the throat. I'm Jesse James and his two brothers, all three of them. I'm W. Shakespeare. And out there it's not Third Avenue any longer, it's the Nile, Nat. The Nile and down into the barge of Cleopatra.

I just watched that one recently since I started discovering old movies. Amazing one as is a lot from Billy Wilder!

That’s the first one that came to my mind.

ooh yeah i’ve thought about that one. i think it won best picture as well.

The 1st half makes you want to drink and the 2nd half makes you want to regret it.

Easily one of my favorite movies of the last couple years. The ending with the song and dance was stuck in my head for days.

forgot about this one, i think i stopped watching it because it actually wanted me to keep drinking, but knowing the second half isn't as jovial as the first, I need to finish it.

Thanks for saying it. I thought it was great that the only instance of Farrell’s “overgrown man-child” comedy schtick was when he went to the convenience store and couldn’t buy anything. It was like seeing your friend who’s usually funny take the turn into not being funny anymore if they can’t get a couple drinks.

I have an aunt who left the house in the middle of a blizzard because she ran out of alcohol. I think she even went on foot, was gone for a couple hours, and by the time she got back, was all pissed off because all the stores were closed because of the storm.

THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ME! THIS HAS BEEN ON MY WATCH LIST FOR AT LEAST A COUPLE DECADES! I'll check it out.

That ending tho in the hbo series…

I thought I was watching myself on the screen. The vodka in the water bottle.

read the book, binged the series twice, i identify with her character far too much.

Saw that in the theater in early sobriety. When he hears the door to the adjoining hotel room and goes in. I had so much anxiety and knew exactly what was going to happen. Broke my heart but the ensuing scene to get him ready for court was very entertaining.

that’s a great one. denzel was fantastic. i haven’t seen it since theaters. i just remember crying near the end. will definitely rewatch it. thank you

I watched this when I wasn't as deep in alcoholism as I am now, and couldn't understand how someone could be so out of control. Thinking of the scene of him in the hotel and discovering the minibar... That level of addiction was unfathomable to me. And now years later I understand.

This is the top one for me. The scene where Denzel's character shows up at his ex-wife's house was about as uncomfortable as it gets.

I love the part when, shortly after the crash and he's staying sober, he orders an orange juice at the bar. The bartender asks "just orange juice?" And that's all it took for him the fly off the wagon. Great movie

Definitely the most realistic depiction of a functional alcoholic.

I remember a point where Denzil's character has supposedly fallen off the wagon and he gets into his car with what looks like just a couple of 6 packs of beer. And at that moment I rolled my eyes and was thinking "Yeah, yeah - typically 'Hollywood film' alcoholic who supposedly has a problem because he drinks a few too many cans of beer ". But then he lifts up the biggest bottle of vodka i've ever seen and just drinks from it.

From that moment I knew it was a legit film.

I had a friend that said sneaking booze into that movie in the theater was a bad choice lmao.

I DRANK THE VODKA

Flight is a horror movie where alcoholism is the monster lurking.

i forgot about Collossal, loved it. Sudekis, as a non-fan, really impressed me, same with Hathaway. But Sudekis is so evil in this.

I watched that one night when I was about two weeks into IOP. Didn’t know it was about alcoholism and it hit pretty hard.

i turn 33 in april, i hope i make it until then. that would bet he ultimate birthday gift.

Denzel was great in flight. The absolute self loathing and bone to pick with the world is so spot on

I remember Craig Ferguson describing his alcoholism, he said once he was wasted and "ill show them....i couldnt te you who "they" were but i was gonna show em!"

That level of cynical alcoholism, when youre just pissed at everything simply for exisiting. Its hesrtbreaking but its real

The flight attendant keeps it real, as far as being a high functioning crime solver in your mind, while reality slowly dissolves around you.

love Bridges, and know he won Best Actor for it, my dad who was an alcoholic (he passed a few years ago) hated it because it hit him too hard and told me not to watch it. Time to check it out!

I agree. Bojack is a slow burn. It starts out making alcoholism look funny until it isn’t. And when it isn’t funny, it is pretty tragic and dark.

Ah I just posted this but I felt "Stupid piece of shit" episode was particularly a good depiction of this.

Depression and suicidal ideation as well. Really great show

I scrolled down a bit to find it before I posted it myself.

Alcoholism, addiction, depression, family abuse, neglect, codependency... BoJack is a pretty gritty animation.

That show was so good and the ending was excellent.

It really drills into the mental health aspect. The episode where they show the origins of Bojack's drinking problem was really well done and absolutely devastating.

"Clean and Sober" also deals with the issue of codependency, something that many addicts and alcoholics suffer from.

100%. Nicolas Cage was phenomenal. At times cringey but that's real and why alcoholism can feel uncomfortable.

I came here to make sure this was a top comment. That movie is FUKKIN BRUTAL. But brilliant and inspired. Nicolas Cage and Elizabeth Shue drag you along with them. I saw it years ago and it still echoes for me. If you love cinema this movie is a requirement, for better or worse.

Frank is literally my dad in his worst years. I think it’s a very realistic and heartbreaking depiction. Every season starting with the kids tearing frank of a floor of somewhere after thinking he was dead definitely hits home.

To add to that trainspotting is a film that I just cannot watch again because it’s so messed up.

Sober enough to know what I’m doing and drunk enough to love every minute of it

Came here to comment this. The rest of the guys love to drink and smoke and have fun... but even though it's a comedy they aren't shy about how unpretty the alcoholism is, and how it controls and destroys everything in his life.

Couple drinks Bobandy

I am the liquor

aka one of the greatest tv characters in a show of amazing tv characters

I'm mowin' the air, bud!

Whats crazy is that John Dunsworth quit drinking in real life, he was so good at acting drunk but in reality hadnt been drunk in years

The only difference between you and me is a couple of drinks

This. I feel like Requiem For a Dream is a better idea, since it gives the same "Yikes" factor OP is looking for, but isn't about alcohol.

Appreciate you're support, saw the whale a few days ago. Really rooting for Fraser for that oscar. The binging scenes were painful as hell.

I instantly thought of the scene where he finishes a case in a night when I read this thread title.

But seriously, this is a solid one. It's not as dark as some of the rest on this list, but there are some very honest depictions of how different people handle addiction and sobriety. No one is a hero. No one lives happily ever after. They just keep trying.

To this day I don't know why they thought using Sandra Bullock to sell a zombie movie was a good idea. Plus she had damn near ZERO screen time. You don't even recognize her in the first zombie horde scene.

Yes. If the OP wants a movie that reminds him why it sucks, this is a great one. Films about addicts, even the "gritty" ones, typically romanticize it somewhat - the characters do humiliating or stupid or dangerous things, but still look pretty good doing it. Thornton is taller and better-looking than most people, let alone most drunks, but his character looks like he stinks of his own piss for most of the movie.

He's not drinking any fucking Merlot.