Because it’s movie night and the feelings, right, it’s movie night! Since you’re no longer binging on alcohol and drugs, you will need other activities to fill your time. This article brings you the movies, TV series, and documentaries that The Sober Curator recommends adding to your playlist.
Pop the popcorn, grab your fav alcohol-free bevies or make your favorite mocktail, dish out your favorite treats and sweets, and settle in for some good old-fashioned cinema entertainment. Need any ideas on what to drink? Head on over to our HAPPY EVERY HOUR section for our curated list of non-alcoholic beverage options.
The list below will be in alphabetical order and if we missed one of your favorites, please reach out and let me know, because I have a serious case of FOMO when it comes to films and shows. thesobercurator@gmail.com or DM us on Instagram @thesobercurator.
The Top 95+ Movies Featuring Addiction & Recovery
- 1982 (2016): Tim Brown is a devoted family man who has worked hard to provide a good life for his wife Shenae and daughter Maya. But all is threatened when Shenae’s old boyfriend returns from prison and lures her back into a dangerous lifestyle. Though his wife has abandoned them, Tim refuses to give up hope, fighting against impossible odds to bring his family back together in this powerful drama.
- 21 Grams (2003): A freak accident brings together a critically ill mathematician, a grieving mother, and a born-again ex-con.
- 25th Hour (2002): Cornered by the DEA, convicted New York drug dealer Montgomery Brogan reevaluates his life in the 24 remaining hours before facing a seven-year jail term.
- 28 Days (2000): From director Betty Thomas (Dr. Dolittle, Private Parts) comes 28 Days, the story of Gwen Cummings (Sandra Bullock), a successful New York writer living life in the fast lane and everyone’s favorite party girl-until she gets drunk with boyfriend Jasper (Dominic West), borrows her sister’s (Elizabeth Perkins) wedding limo and earns herself a stay in court-ordered rehab. There, Gwen comes face to face with a unique set of rules and rituals embraced by an assortment of interesting characters-Counselor Cornell (Steve Buscemi) and fellow rehabbers Eddie (Viggo Mortensen), Gerhardt (Alan Tudyk), Oliver (Mike O’Malley), Andrea (Azura Skye), Roshanda (Oscar nominee Marianne Jean-Baptiste) and Bobbie Jean (Oscar nominee Diane Ladd) and eventually realizes that life is not one big party!
Sober Curator Pro Tip: Check out this Peeps Diorama inspired by the movie 28 Days with Sandra Bullock
- Aberdeen (2011): Kaisa (Lena Headey), a beautiful and feisty Scottish woman, finally has her life together…at least until her mother (Charlotte Rampling) asks an enormous favor: to bring back to her Kaisa’s estranged father (Stellan Skarsgard). The two of them, father and daughter together, set out on a wild, brutally funny, yet heartbreaking journey that takes them through their emotional past before reaching their ultimate destination.
- American Gangster (2007): Directed by Ridley Scott and starring Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Josh Brolin, and Lymari Nadal. Following the death of his employer and mentor, Bumpy Johnson, Frank Lucas establishes himself as the number one importer of heroin in the Harlem district of Manhattan. He does so by buying heroin directly from a source in South East Asia, and he comes up with a unique way of importing the drugs into the United States. Based on a true story.
- Another Round (2020): There’s a theory that we should be born with a small amount of alcohol in our blood and that modest inebriation opens our minds to the world around us, diminishing our problems and increasing our creativity. Heartened by that theory, Martin and three of his friends, all weary high school teachers, embark on an experiment to maintain a constant level of intoxication throughout the workday. If Churchill won WW2 in a heavy daze of alcohol, who knows what a few drops might do for them and their students? Initial results are positive, and the teachers’ little project turns into a genuine academic study. Their classes and results continue to improve, and the group feels alive again! Some participants see further improvement as the units are knocked back, and others go off the rails. It becomes increasingly clear that while alcohol may have fueled great results in world history, some bold acts carry consequences.
- A Scanner Darkly (2006): An undercover cop in a not-too-distant future becomes involved with a dangerous new drug and begins to lose his identity.
- A Star is Born (2018): In this new take on the tragic love story, he plays seasoned musician Jackson Maine, who discovers—and falls in love with-struggling artist Ally (Gaga). She has just about given up on her dream to make it big as a singer… until Jack coaxes her into the spotlight. But even as Ally’s career takes off, the personal side of their relationship is breaking down as Jack fights an ongoing battle with his own internal demons.
- Ava (2020): Ava is a deadly assassin who works for a black ops organization, traveling the globe specializing in high profile hits. She is forced to fight for her survival when a job goes dangerously wrong.
- Bar Fly (1987): Barfly is a 1987 American film directed by Barbet Schroeder and starring Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway. The film is a semi-autobiography of poet/author Charles Bukowski during the time he spent drinking heavily in Los Angeles, and it presents Bukowski’s alter ego Henry Chinaski. The screenplay, written by Bukowski, was commissioned by the French film director Barbet Schroeder, and it was published in 1984, when film production was still pending.
- Beautiful Boy (2018): Beautiful Boy is a movie starring Steve Carell, Timothée Chalamet, and Maura Tierney. Based on the memoir “Beautiful Boy” by David Sheff and “Tweak” by his son, Nic Sheff, Beautiful Boy chronicles the heartbreaking and inspiring experience of survival and recovery in a family coping with addiction over many years.
- Being Charlie (2016): From Academy Award®-Nominated Director Rob Reiner (STAND BY ME, A FEW GOOD MEN), BEING CHARLIE is a coming of age story about a troublesome 18-year-old (Nick Robinson of JURASSIC WORLD) who breaks out of a youth drug treatment clinic and returns home to Los Angeles. He finds his former-actor father (Cary Elwes of THE PRINCESS BRIDE) is running for Governor, and his parents are forcing him to enter adult rehab. There he meets Eva, a beautiful but troubled girl, and is confronted by his issues with drugs, love, and family. Also starring Common.
- Ben is Back (2018): 19-year-old Ben Burns (Lucas Hedges) unexpectedly returns to his family’s suburban home on Christmas Eve morning. Ben’s mother, Holly (Julia Roberts), is relieved and welcoming but wary of her son staying clean. Over a turbulent 24 hours, new truths are revealed, and a mother’s undying love for her son is tested as she does everything she can to keep him safe.
- Blow (2001): The story of George Jung, the man who established the American cocaine market in the 1970s.
- Body Brokers (2021): Utah (Jack Kilmer) and Opal (Alice Englert) are junkies living on the streets of rural Ohio until a seemingly chance encounter with the enigmatic Wood (Michael Kenneth Williams) brings them to Los Angeles for drug treatment. Utah appears to find sobriety with the help of treatment center shrink, Dr. White (Melissa Leo), and tech turned love interest, May (Jessica Rothe). They soon learn that drug treatment is a cover for a predatory business, enlisting addicts to recruit other addicts. Utah is no exception. Wood and his drug treatment mogul partner, Vin (Frank Grillo), take Utah under their wing, introducing him to the good life, though Utah’s addiction remains his biggest obstacle.
- Bohemian Rhapsody (2018): Bohemian Rhapsody is a foot-stomping celebration of Queen, their music, and their extraordinary lead singer Freddie Mercury. Freddie defied stereotypes and shattered convention to become one of the most beloved entertainers on the planet. The film traces the band’s meteoric rise through their iconic songs and revolutionary sound. They reach unparalleled success, but Freddie, surrounded by darker influences, shuns Queen in pursuit of his solo career in an unexpected turn. Having suffered greatly without the collaboration of Queen, Freddie manages to reunite with his bandmates just in time for Live Aid. While bravely facing a recent AIDS diagnosis, Freddie leads the band in one of the greatest performances in the history of rock music. Queen cements a legacy that continues to inspire outsiders, dreamers, and music lovers today.
- Boogie Nights (1997): In the San Fernando Valley in 1977, teenage busboy Eddie Adams gets discovered by porn director Jack Horner, who transforms him into adult-film sensation Dirk Diggler. Brought into a supportive circle of friends, including fellow actors Amber Waves, Rollergirl, and Reed Rothchild, Dirk fulfills all his ambitions. Still, a toxic combination of drugs and egotism threatens to take him back down. Mark Wahlberg stars in the Academy Award-nominated Boogie Nights.
- Christiane F. (1981): Christiane is a 13-year-old girl living in Berlin, Germany, during the mid-70s. She begins going to a ” Sound ” club with her older friend Kessi. She soon makes new friends, most of whom are drug addicts, and falls for a boy named Detlev, a drug addict, and a prostitute. Christiane starts taking pills to fit in and later starts taking heroin. Her life starts to fall apart as she becomes a full heroin addict and sees the same happening to her friends.
- Clean and Sober (1988): A hustling drug addict checks himself into rehab to escape trouble with the law and realizes that it’s exactly what he needs.
- Colossal (2017): A woman discovers that severe catastrophic events are somehow connected to the mental breakdown from which she’s suffering.
- Crazy Heart (2009): Jeff Bridges won an Academy Award® for his role as the richly comedic, semi-tragic, romantic anti-hero, Bad Blake, in the debut feature film, Crazy Heart, from writer-director Scott Cooper. Bad Blake is a broken-down, hard-living country music singer who’s had way too many marriages, far too many years on the road, and one too many drinks way too many times. And yet, Bad can’t help but reach for salvation with the help of Jean (two-time Golden Globe® nominee Maggie Gyllenhaal), a journalist who discovers the real man behind the musician. As he struggles down the road of redemption, Bad learns the hard way just how tough life can be on one man’s crazy heart. Crazy Heart won two Academy Awards® for Best Actor and Best Original Song.
- Dallas Buyers Club (2013): Matthew McConaughey stars in DALLAS BUYERS CLUB as real-life Texas cowboy Ron Woodroof, whose free-wheeling life was overturned in 1985 when he was diagnosed as HIV-positive and given 30 days to live. These were the early days of the AIDS epidemic, and the U.S. was divided over how to combat the virus. Ron, now shunned and ostracized by many of his old friends and bereft of government-approved effective medicines, decided to take matters into his own hands, tracking down alternative treatments from all over the world by means both legal and illegal. Bypassing the establishment, the entrepreneurial Woodroof joined forces with an unlikely band of renegades and outcasts – who he once would have shunned – and established a hugely successful “buyers’ club.” Their shared struggle for dignity and acceptance is a uniquely American story of the transformative power of resilience.
- Doctor Sleep (2019): “Doctor Sleep” is the continuation of Danny Torrance’s story 40 years after the terrifying events of Stephen King’s The Shining. Still irrevocably scarred by the trauma he endured as a child at the Overlook, Dan Torrance has fought to find some semblance of peace. But that peace is shattered when he encounters Abra, a courageous teenager with her powerful extrasensory gift, known as the “shine.” Instinctively recognizing that Dan shares her power, Abra has sought him out, desperate for his help against the merciless Rose the Hat and her followers, The True Knot, who feed off the shine of innocents in their quest for immortality. Forming an unlikely alliance, Dan and Abra engage in a brutal life-or-death battle with Rose. Abra’s innocence and fearless embrace of her shine compel Dan to call upon his powers as never before—at once facing his fears and reawakening the ghosts of the past.
- Down To The Bone (2004): A 2004 American independent drama film directed by Debra Granik and written by Granik and Richard Lieske. It stars Vera Farmiga, who received the Best Actress Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association for her role as the drug-addicted Irene. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 15, 2004, where it won the Director’s Award (Granik) and the Special Jury Prize for Acting (Farmiga).
- Don Jon (2013): A New Jersey guy dedicated to his family, friends, and church, develops unrealistic expectations from watching porn and works to find happiness and intimacy with his potential true love.
- Don’t Worry He Won’t Get Far on Foot (2018): On the rocky path to sobriety after a life-changing accident, John Callahan discovers the healing power of art, willing his injured hands into drawing hilarious, often controversial cartoons, which bring him a new lease on life.
- Drugstore Cowboy (1989): Addicted husband and wife team. Bob and Diane Hughes (Matt Dillon and Kelly Lynch) and a younger couple of thieves resort to robbing drugstores to stay high. Still, despite this tragic lifestyle, they share moments of compassion and humor. The foursomes skillfully skirt the law due to Bob’s wits and superstitious nature until the day his luck begins to change. When his death appears inevitable. Bob realizes he must give up drugs and Diane to survive.
- Drunken Angel (1948): Drunken Angel (醉いどれ天使, Yoidore Tenshi) is a 1948 Japanese yakuza film directed by Akira Kurosawa. It is notable for being the first of sixteen film collaborations between director Kurosawa and actor Toshiro Mifune.
- Easy Rider (1969): Easy Rider is a 1969 American independent road drama film written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda, and directed by Hopper. Fonda and Hopper played two bikers who travel through the American Southwest and South, carrying the proceeds from a cocaine deal. The success of Easy Rider helped spark the New Hollywood era of filmmaking during the early 1970s.
- Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas (1998): Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Trailer – Directed by Terry Gilliam and starring Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro, Tobey Maguire, Ellen Barkin, and Gary Busey. The hallucinogenic misadventures of sportswriter Raoul Duke and his Samoan lawyer, Dr. Gonzo, on a three-day romp from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Motoring across the Mojave Desert on the way to Sin City, Duke, his purple haze passenger, ingest a cornucopia of drugs ranging from acid to ether.
- Flight (2012): An airline pilot saves a flight from crashing, but investigating the malfunctions reveals something troubling.
- Four Good Days (2021): A mother helps her daughter work through four crucial recovery days from substance abuse.
- Gia (1998): Angelina Jolie stars in this drama based on the tragic true story of Gia Carangi, the supermodel who dominated the international fashion scene of the late ’70s.
- Girl, Interrupted (1999): Set in the changing world of the late 1960s, GIRL INTERRUPTED is the searing story of Susanna Kaysen (Ryder), a young woman who finds herself at a renowned mental institution for troubled women. Based on the best-selling novel of the same name and directed by celebrated director James Mangold, GIRL INTERRUPTED features a tour de force performance by today’s most critically acclaimed young actors. Kaysen’s prescribed “short rest” from a psychiatrist she had met only once becomes a strange, unknown journey into Alice’s Wonderland, where she struggles with the thin line between normal and crazy. Kaysen soon realizes how hard it is to get out once she has been committed. She ultimately has to choose between the world of people who belong inside or the complex world of reality outside
- Glassland (2016): Set in Dublin, Glassland tells the story of a young taxi driver (Reynor) who gets tangled up in the world of human trafficking while trying to save his mother (Collette) from addiction.
- Grace (2015): Gracie knows hangovers. She’s intimately acquainted with them. But this one? Why did she wake up, half-dressed, on a Florida beach, 1100 miles from home? And this time, her father – who also knows about the tragedy of addiction from his struggles with Gracie’s mom – isn’t going to clean things up. Suspicious and distrustful of everyone, including a café owner with a troubled history, Gracie prefers the relief of alcohol – which had always worked for her. When she’s arrested for public drunkenness and attacking a police officer, Gracie is given a choice: six months in jail or 90 meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous in 90 days, and she has to do it in the small town she’s landed in. She’s not used to strangers caring about her. Still, perhaps the power of community can help her sidestep the landmines lining her path to sobriety – especially the ones she’s laid herself. “GRACE.” compassionately looks at the disease of addiction through a young woman inching towards redemption.
- Gridlock’d (1997): After a friend overdose, Spoon and Stretch decide to kick their drug habits and attempt to enroll in a government detox program. Their efforts are hampered by seemingly endless red tape, as they are shuffled from one office to another while being chased by drug dealers and the police.
- Half Nelson (2006): An inner-city junior high school teacher with a drug habit (Ryan Gosling) forms an unlikely friendship with one of his students after she discovers his secret.
- Hillbilly Elegy (2020): J.D. Vance (Gabriel Basso), a former Marine from southern Ohio and current Yale Law student, are on the verge of landing his dream job when a family crisis forces him to return to the home he’s tried to forget. J.D. must navigate the complex dynamics of his Appalachian family, including his volatile relationship with his mother, Bev (Amy Adams), who’s struggling with addiction. Fueled by memories of his grandmother Mamaw (Glenn Close), the resilient and whip-smart woman who raised him, J.D. comes to embrace his family’s indelible imprint on his journey.
- I Smile Back (2015): Laney is an attractive, intelligent suburban wife and devoted mother of two adorable children. She has the perfect husband who plays basketball with the kids in the driveway, a new house, and a shiny SUV for carting the children to their next activity. However, just beneath the façade lie depression and disillusionment that send her careening into a secret world of reckless compulsion. Only real danger will force her to face the bitter root of her destructiveness and its crumbling effect on those she loves.
- James White (2015): James White (Christopher Abbott) is a troubled twenty-something trying to stay afloat in a frenzied New York City. He retreats further into a self-destructive, hedonistic lifestyle, but James is forced to take control of his life as his mother battles a severe illness. As the pressure on him mounts, James must find new reserves of strength or risk imploding completely.
- Leaving Las Vegas (1995): Nicolas Cage garnered a Best Actor Oscar for his hauntingly disturbing portrayal of a suicidal alcoholic who falls for a compassionate Las Vegas prostitute (Elisabeth Shue) in one of the year’s most critically acclaimed films.
- Less Than Zero (1997): Less Than Zero is a 1987 American drama film directed by Marek Kanievska, loosely based on the 1985 novel of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis. The film stars Andrew McCarthy as Clay, a college freshman returning home for Christmas to spend time with his ex-girlfriend Blair and his friend Julian, who is also a drug addict. The film looks at the culture of wealthy, decadent youth in Los Angeles.
- Little Miss Sunshine (2006): Father Richard (Greg Kinnear) is desperately trying to sell his motivational success program… with no success. Meanwhile, “pro-honesty” mom Sheryl (Toni Collette) lends support to her eccentric family, including her depressed brother (Steve Carell), fresh out of the hospital after being jilted by his lover. Then there are the younger Hoovers – the seven-year-old, would-be beauty queen Olive (Abigail Breslin) and Dwayne (Paul Dano), a Nietzsche-reading teen who has taken a vow of silence. The foul-mouthed grandfather (Alan Arkin) is topping off the family, whose outrageous behavior recently got him evicted from his retirement home. When Olive is invited to compete in the “Little Miss Sunshine” pageant in far-off California, the family piles into their rusted-out VW bus to rally behind her – with funny results.
- Lovers on the Bridge (1991): In this romantic drama, a pair of charming eccentrics decides to leave reality behind, only to discover it’s chasing after them. Alex (Denis Lavant) is a street performer with a fire-eating act who finds shelter at night on the Pont Neuf, a scenic Paris bridge that has been closed down for repairs. One day, Alex meets Michele (Juliette Binoche), an artist who has decided to leave the security of her “real” life behind to draw sketches on the streets; he offers to let her join him on the bridge, and she agrees. Love blooms between them as they enjoy the lovely spectacle of Paris. Still, when Michele’s friends and family hang posters around town begging for her return, Alex decides that he must tear them all down to prevent Michele from being taken away from him. Writer and director Leos Carax set this film during the French Bicentennial celebrations to take advantage of the spectacular fireworks displays staged to commemorate the holidays.
- Magnolia (1999): This sprawling character study follows ten people whose damaged lives intersect–often by sheer coincidence–during a single day in Southern California’s San Fernando Valley.
- Mank (2020): 1930s Hollywood is reevaluated through the eyes of scathing social critic and alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) as he races to finish the screenplay of Citizen Kane.
- Moonlight (2016): A timeless story of human connection and self-discovery, MOONLIGHT chronicles the life of a young black man from childhood to adulthood as he struggles to find his place in the world while growing up in a rough neighborhood of Miami. At once a vital portrait of contemporary African American life and intensely personal and poetic meditation on identity, family, friendship, and love, MOONLIGHT is a groundbreaking piece of cinema that reverberates with deep compassion and universal truths. Anchored by extraordinary performances from a tremendous ensemble cast, Jenkins’s staggering, singular vision is profoundly moving in portraying the moments, people, and unknowable forces that shape our lives and make us who we are.
- My Left Foot (1989): This cinematic masterpiece is the brilliant portrayal of legendary Irishman Christy Brown (Daniel Day-Lewis), who, despite crippling cerebral palsy, learned to use his one controllable extremity — his left foot — to become an accomplished artist and writer.
- Naked Lunch (1991): After developing an addiction to the substance he uses to kill bugs, an exterminator accidentally kills his wife and becomes involved in a secret government plot orchestrated by giant bugs in a port town in North Africa.
- Nymphomaniac (2013): A self-diagnosed nymphomaniac recounts her erotic experiences to the man who saved her after a beating.
- Oslo (2021): Adapted from the Tony Award-winning play, this film follows the secret back-channel talks, unlikely friendships, and quiet heroics of a small but committed group of Israelis and Palestinians, plus one Norwegian couple, that led to the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords. Starring Ruth Wilson and Andrew Scott. Directed by Bartlett Sher, written by J.T Rogers.
- Pain and Glory (2019): Pain and Glory tell of a series of reencounters experienced by Salvador Mallo, a film director, in his physical decline. Some of them in the flesh, others remembered: his childhood in the 60s, when he emigrated with his parents to a village in Valencia in search of prosperity, the first desire, his first adult love in the Madrid of the 80s, the pain of the breakup of that love while it was still alive and intense, writing as the only therapy to forget the unforgettable, the early discovery of cinema, and the void, the infinite void created by the incapacity to keep on making films. Pain and Glory talk about creation, the difficulty of separating it from one’s life, and the passions that give it meaning and hope. In recovering his past, Salvador finds the urgent need to recount it; in that need, he also finds his salvation.
- Palmer (2021): After 12 years in prison, former high school football star Eddie Palmer returns home to put his life back together—and forms an unlikely bond with Sam, an outcast boy from a troubled home. But Eddie’s past threatens to ruin his new life and family.
- Postcards From The Edge (1990): substance-addicted actress tries to look on the bright side even as she is forced to move back in with her mother to avoid unemployment.
- Promising Young Woman (2020): A delicious new take on revenge comes from visionary director Emerald Fennell (Killing Eve). Everyone said Cassie (Carey Mulligan) was a promising young woman…until a mysterious event abruptly derailed her future. But nothing in Cassie’s life is what it appears to be: she’s wickedly smart, tantalizingly cunning, and she’s living a secret double life by night. An unexpected encounter is about to give Cassie a chance to right past wrongs in this thrilling and wildly entertaining story.
- Rachel Getting Married (2008): When an estranged daughter (Anne Hathaway) returns home for her sister Rachel’s wedding, her arrival throws a wrench into the family’s precarious social dynamic, causing long-simmering tensions to boil to the surface in the most hilarious and heartbreaking of ways in this nuanced family portrait from Academy Award®-winning director Jonathan Demme
- Ray (2004): The story of the life and career of the legendary rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles, from his humble beginnings in the South, where he went blind at age seven, to his meteoric rise to stardom during the 1950s and 1960s.
- Requiem For A Dream (2000): Darren Aronofksy directs Oscar® winners Harled Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans, and Ellen Burstyn in this hypnotic tale of four people each pursuing their vision of happiness. Even as everything falls apart, they refuse to let go, plummeting with their dreams into a nightmarish, gut-wrenching freefall.
- Respect (2020): Following the rise of Aretha Franklin’s career from a young child singing in her father’s church’s choir to her international superstardom, “Respect” is the remarkable true story of the music icon’s journey to find her voice and become the Queen of Soul.
- Rocketman (2019): Rocketman is a one-of-a-kind musical celebration set to Elton John’s most beloved songs. Discover how a shy boy growing up in the suburbs of London becomes one of the most iconic figures in rock & roll. Featuring an all-star cast, this truly spectacular and electrifying ride is filled with show-stopping musical performances unlike anything you’ve ever seen.
- Scarface (1983): In the spring of 1980, the port at Mariel Harbor was opened, and thousands set sail for the United States. They came in search of the American Dream. One of them found it on the sun-washed avenues of Miami… wealth, power, and passion beyond his wildest dreams. He was Tony Montana. The world will remember him by another name… Scarface. Starring Al Pacino as Tony Montana, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Robert Loggia, Scarface has become a cultural phenomenon brilliantly directed by Brian De Palma and written by Oliver Stone.
- Shame (2011): In New York City, Brandon’s carefully cultivated private life — which allows him to indulge his sexual addiction — is disrupted when his sister Cissy arrives unannounced for an indefinite stay.
- Sid & Nancy (1986): Following their breakout success in England, flagship punk rock band the Sex Pistols venture out on their first U.S. tour. Temperamental bassist Sid Vicious (Gary Oldman) takes his troubled girlfriend, Nancy Spungen (Chloe Webb), along for the ride. Along the way, the couple’s turbulent relationship strains the patience of bandmate Johnny Rotten (Andrew Schofield) and manager Malcolm McLaren (David Hayman) while plunging Sid and Nancy into the depths of drug addiction and co-dependency.
- Smashed (2012): Kate (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Charlie (Aaron Paul, TV’s “Breaking Bad” ) are a young married couple whose bond is built on a mutual love of music, laughter, and drinking…, especially the drinking. When Kate’s drinking leads her to dangerous places and her school teacher’s job is jeopardized, she decides to join AA and get sober. With the help of her new friend and sponsor, Jenny (Octavia Spencer, The Help), and the vice principal at her school, the awkward but well-intentioned Mr. Davies, Kate takes steps toward improving her health and life. Sobriety isn’t as easy as Kate had anticipated. Her new lifestyle brings to the surface a troubling relationship with her mother, facing the lies she’s told her employer (Megan Mullaly TV’s “Parks and Recreation” ) and calls into question whether or not her relationship with Charlie is built on love or just a boozy diversion from adulthood.
- Sound of Metal (2020): During a series of adrenaline-fueled one-night gigs, itinerant punk-metal drummer Ruben (Riz Ahmed) begins to experience intermittent hearing loss. When a specialist tells him his condition will rapidly worsen, he thinks his music career — and with it, his life — is over. His bandmate and girlfriend Lou (Olivia Cooke) check the recovering heroin addict into a secluded sober house for the deaf, hoping it will prevent relapse and help him learn to adapt to his new situation. But after being welcomed into a community that accepts him just as he is, Ruben has to choose between his equilibrium and the drive to reclaim the life he once knew. Utilizing startling, innovative sound design techniques, director Darius Marder takes audiences inside Ruben’s experience to vividly recreate his journey into a rarely-examined world.
- Spencer (2021): The marriage of Princess Diana (Kristen Stewart) and Prince Charles (Jack Farthing) has long since grown cold. Though rumors of affairs and a divorce abound, peace is ordained for the Christmas festivities at the Queen’s Sandringham Estate. But this year, things will be profoundly different. SPENCER imagines what might have happened during those few fateful days.
- Suck It Up Buttercup (2017): It’s two months after the death of Ronnie’s brother and Faye’s first love. Ronnie’s on an epic bender, while Faye has taken up crafting. Though life-long best friends, Ronnie and Faye lost touch when Ronnie’s brother got sick. Faye returns home to get Ronnie back on track after her drinking hits a dangerous high. She kidnaps her to take off to the family cabin and begins a summer of Lake-town antics, trysts with townies, and a lot of button-pushing. In an emotional face-off, both women realize they’re not just grieving for their lost love. They’re grieving their friendship.
- Thanks For Sharing (2012): A romantic comedy that follows the lives of three friends who meet while attending 12-step meetings to help treat their addiction to sex.
- Thank You For Smoking (2005): Based on Christopher Buckley’s acclaimed 1994 novel, Thank You For Smoking is a fiercely satirical look at today’s “culture of spin.
- The Basketball Diaries (1995): Film adaptation of street tough Jim Carroll’s epistle about his kaleidoscopic free fall into the harrowing world of drug addiction. As a member of a seemingly unbeatable high school basketball squad, Jim’s life centers around the basketball court, and the court becomes a metaphor for the world in his mind. A best friend who is dying of leukemia, a coach (“Swifty”) who takes indecent liberties with the boys on his team, teenage sexual angst, and an unhealthy appetite for heroin begin to encroach on young Jim’s dream of becoming a basketball star. Soon, the dark streets of New York become a refuge from his mother’s mounting concern for her son. He can’t go home, and his only escape from the reality of the streets is heroin, for which he steals, robs, and prostitutes himself. Only with the help of Reggie, an older neighborhood friend with whom Jim “picked up a game” now and then, can he begin the long journey back to sanity.
- The Bench (2016): Living rough on the Polish streets, two young boys struggle to feed and look after themselves daily. But their lives suddenly changed forever in a way they could never have imagined. Following an accident, one of the boys develops a supernatural power, which attracts the attention of the worst kind. His life hangs in the balance as his future is torn between the forces of good and evil.
- The Departed (2006): Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, and Mark Wahlberg star in Martin Scorsese’s new crime drama “The Departed.” “The Departed” is set in South Boston, where the state police force is waging an all-out war to take down the city’s top organized crime ring. The key is to end the reign of powerful mob boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) from the inside. A young rookie, Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio), is assigned to infiltrate Costello’s mob. While Billy is working to gain Costello’s trust, another young cop, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), is among a handful of elite officers whose mission is to bring Costello down. But his superiors don’t know that Colin is working for Costello, keeping the crime boss one step ahead of the police. Each man becomes deeply consumed by his double life, gathering information about the plans and counter-plans of the operation he has penetrated. But when it becomes clear to both the gangsters and the police that they have a mole in their midst, Billy and Colin find themselves in constant danger of being caught, and each must race to uncover the other man’s identity in time to save himself.
- The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021): THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE is an intimate look at the extraordinary rise, fall, and redemption of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker (Jessica Chastain). In the 1970s and ’80s, Tammy Faye and her husband, Jim Bakker (Andrew Garfield), rose from humble beginnings to create the world’s largest religious broadcasting network and theme park. At first, they were revered for their love, acceptance, and prosperity messages. All the while, Tammy Faye was legendary for her indelible eyelashes, idiosyncratic singing, and eagerness to embrace people from all walks of life. However, it wasn’t long before financial improprieties, scheming rivals, and scandal toppled their carefully constructed empire.
- The Father (2020): Anthony is 80, mischievous, living defiantly alone and rejecting the care takers that his daughter, Anne, encouragingly introduces. Yet help is also becoming necessary for Anne; she can’t make daily visits anymore, and Anthony’s grip on reality is unravelling. As we experience the ebb and flow of his memory, how much of his identity and past can Anthony cling to? How does Anne cope as she grieves the loss of her father while he still lives and breathes before her? THE FATHER warmly embraces real life through loving reflection upon the vibrant human condition, heart-breaking and uncompromisingly poignant – a movie that nestles in the truth of our own lives.
- The Fighter (2010): Mark Wahlberg stars in Paramount Pictures’ inspirational docudrama exploring the remarkable rise of Massachusetts-born lightweight title winner “Irish” Micky Ward. A determined pugilist whose career in the ring was shepherded by his loyal half-brother, Dicky (Christian Bale) — a hard-living boxer-turned-trainer whose own career in the ring was nearly sent down for the count due to drugs and crime — perennial underdog Irish Micky rebounded from a disheartening series of defeats to win both the WBU Intercontinental Lightweight title and the WBU Light Welterweight title thanks to a lethal combination of determination and hard work. David O. Russell directs from a script by 8 Mile’s Scott Silver and Paul Attanasio (The Bourne Ultimatum).
- The Lost Weekend (1945): The Best Picture of 1945 has lost none of its bite or power in this uncompromising look at the devastating effects of alcoholism. Ironically, this brilliant Billy Wilder film was rarely released because of poor reaction by preview audiences unaccustomed to such stark realism from Hollywood. Still, the film has been regarded as one of the all-time great dramas in history. Ray Milland’s haunting portrayal of a would-be writer’s dissatisfaction with his life leads him to a self-destructive three-day binge. Filled with riveting imagery, the multiple Academy Award®-winner offers an unforgettable view of life on the edge.
- The Man With The Golden Arm (1995): A strung-out junkie deals with demoralizing drug addiction while his disabled wife and card sharks pull him down.
- The Panic in Needle Park (1971): A boyfriend from hell, who happens to be a small-time crook, leads his decent girlfriend on the downhill heroin path.
- The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996): The compelling story of porn industry iconoclast Larry Flynt (Harrelson), who, with his wife Althea Leasure (Love), builds an empire out of Hustler magazine. Along the way, Flynt runs for President, falls victim to an attempted murder plot that leaves him paralyzed, and becomes embroiled in a First Amendment legal battle culminates in a Supreme Court victory.
- The Rum Diary (2011): Based on the novel by Hunter S. Thompson, THE RUM DIARY follows itinerant journalist Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp) on an alcohol-fueled journey across the pristine island of Puerto Rico. Adopting the rum-soaked life of the island, Paul soon becomes obsessed with Chenault (Amber Heard), the wildly attractive fiancée of Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart), an American businessman involved in shady development deals. When Sanderson recruits Kemp to write favorably about his latest unsavory scheme, the journalist is presented with a choice: to use his words for the corrupt businessman’s financial benefit or use them to take him down.
- The Spectacular Now (2013): From the writers of (500) Days of Summer, effortless charmer Sutter Keely (Miles Teller) unexpectedly falls for “good girl” Aimee Finicky (Shailene Woodley) in this authentic and charming portrait of the risky business of young love and growing up.
- The Wolf Of Wall Street (2013): The story of a New York stockbroker, played by DiCaprio, who refuses to cooperate in a large securities fraud case involving corruption on Wall Street, the corporate banking world, and mob infiltration.
- Traffic (2000): Michael Douglas, Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro, Dennis Quaid, and Catherine Zeta-Jones star in this powerful epic drama about the high-stakes, high-risk world of the drug trade.
- Trainspotting (1996): Starring Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, and Kelly Macdonald, Danny Boyle’s ’ Trainspotting track the misadventures of young men in Edinburgh trying to find their way out of joblessness, aimless relationships, and drug addiction. Some are successful, while others hopelessly are not. Based on Irvine Welsh’s novel, this explosive adaptation melds grit with poetry, resulting in a film of harsh truths and stunning grace.
- Trees Lounge (1996): Long Island loser Tommy (Steve Buscemi) is a hopeless alcoholic who loses his job for stealing from his boss, Rob (Anthony LaPaglia), who’s now dating his ex, Theresa (Elizabeth Bracco). Tommy copes with his failures by hanging out at local dive Trees Lounge with friends he can barely stand. He takes a gig as the ice cream man, but he’s awful with kids. The best thing in his life is a lukewarm romance with cool local girl Debbie (Chloë Sevigny), who is Theresa’s underage niece.
- Uncut Gems (2019): From acclaimed filmmakers Josh and Benny Safdie, come to an electrifying crime thriller about Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler), a charismatic New York City jeweler always on the lookout for the next big score. When he makes a series of high-stakes bets that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime, Howard must perform a precarious high-wire act, balancing business, family, and encroaching adversaries on all sides in his relentless pursuit of the ultimate win.
- When a Man Loves a Woman (1994): Meg Ryan and Andy Garcia deliver critically acclaimed performances in this inspiring motion picture. As Alice and Michael, Ryan and Garcia are a passionate couple whose once-stable marriage is rocked by her increasing dependence on alcohol. As they strive to overcome this challenge, they discover a renewed sense of love and commitment. Sparked by hope and ignited by riveting star performances, WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN is a story of fiery passion and the enduring power of love.
- Withnail + I (1987): London: The Sixties. Two down-on-their-luck actors (Withnail and Marwood) find solace in drink and other substances. Seeking respite from their uneventful lives, they escape north to Penrith to Withnail’s uncle’s stone cottage. Faced with no modern conveniences, a bunch of oddball locals, and a surprise visit from an amorous “Uncle Monty,” their wits are tested, along with their friendship.
- Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf? (1996): A bitter, aging couple, with the help of alcohol, uses a young couple to fuel anguish and emotional pain towards each other.
THE MINDFUL BINGE: The Best 35+ TV SHOWS Featuring Addiction & Recovery
Resources are available
Resources Are Available
If you or someone you know is experiencing difficulties surrounding alcoholism, addiction, or mental illness, please reach out and ask for help. People everywhere can and want to help; you just have to know where to look. And continue to look until you find what works for you. Click here for a list of regional and national resources.