American Indie cinema over the years has produced some very good character drama-cum-comedies such as
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist,
Silver Linings Playbook,
Little Miss Sunshine and
The Kids are All Right , just to mention a few.
The newest addition to this genre is “Thanks for Sharing’’, a drama-cum-comedy about three males and their sexual addiction as they start up new relationships. It's touching, insightful and funny. A perfect date movie that is far more rewarding and less predictable than your average romantic-comedy.
Written and directed by the guys who brought us The Kids are All Right, Stuart Blumberg could have easily made this movie to be a by-the-numbers movie, with generic plot elements of every romantic comedy but he has eschewed all but the one trait of romantic comedy genre, that of boy meets girl and boy and girl fall in love.
The boy being the sex addict Mark Ruffulo and the girl being the anal Gwyneth Paltrow. The movie really draws you into the two characters, faults and love, so much so that one does care about whether or not they'll last. If that’s not enough the movie uses the supporting characters to build on other issues to do with family, addiction and self actualization.
The supporting cast includes a great performance by Josh Gad as the loveable but extremely flawed chubby guy Neil whose sex addiction may be a result of his unhealthy relationship with his mother?
A very Eddard Stark like performance from Tim Robbins as Mike - an addict and sponsor with some serious father-son issues to sort out and a lovely turn from Ms. Alicia Moore a.k.a. Pink as the rose among the thorns in a sausage packed film about sex addiction that has little to no gratuitous sex scene.
At the heart of Thanks for Sharing is the idea of honesty - being honest with yourself and those around you as a way for one to be able to realize self actualization whether be it in a relationship, career or the personal sphere.
Some of the characters get humbled by the truth but they are better off for it. This is a gem of a movie, with moving and believable performances from the cast. If you're tired of shoot-em-ups and want something that will touch your heart and make you think, this is it.