A very sober look ...

In 1988 I saw 'Clean and Sober' and it was not a comfortable movie for me to watch. I had been clean and sober for 6 years and could relate to Michael Keaton's character (Daryl Poynter). As Daryl Keaton turns in a Oscar winning performance as a very self obsorbed chain smoking drug abusing white color guy. In the opening scenes we see Daryl in bed with a woman who's just died from a cocaine overdose. He also learns that a large sum of $$$ is missing from one of his accounts. He is in a bind and decides to take refuge at a local drug rehab clinic. At the clinic he encounters a structured environment and does his best to ignore rules (i.e., must have permission to use the phone). He doesn't care about rules, he's very self-absorbed and does whatever he has to do to gain an advantage. At the clinic he learns quickly that his self-absorbed non-conforming behavior is not welcomed nor tolerated.
The movie offers a very sober look at the life of addicts. This is not a happy movie and the director does a great job in presenting the dark side of addiction. The viewer sees the painful process of sobering up and what addicts go through to stay sober for the first 30 days. What I was impressed with were the scenes involving the meetings where struggling addicts share their addicted lives with fellow addicts. I remember when I attended 12 step meetings (following detox addicts are required to attend a 12 step AA meeting) and felt uneasy about sharing my stuff.
'Clean and Sober' had a great supporting cast with Morgan Freeman portraying Craig the drug abuse counselor and Kathy Baker doing her best as Charlie Standers the drug addict struggling to get sober. The remaining cast was awesome in their very 'real' performances.
'Clean and Sober' is one of Keaton's best performances. One of my favorite scenes is when Daryl is told to leave the rehab clinic because he's not obeying the rules and Craig (Morgan Freeman) feels he's not ready to get clean and sober. To Daryl being asked to leave is unsettling and he shows his displeasure by throwing a tantrum. Daryl has no concept of the phrase, 'you can't' as in you can't use the phone w/out first asking. It's inevitable that Daryl returns to the clinic but it's not of his choosing. It takes the remainder of the movie for Daryl to realize what he needs to do get clean and sober.