Sweet Dreams

Sweet-Dreams
Sweet Dreams

When listening to the eerie sweet sounds posed by Eurythmics in Sweet dreams, have you ever tried finding out what the song considers to be a “sweet dream”? Okay, she doesn’t really hold such opinions for much of the song. Nevertheless, do remember that she stresses a lot on keeping one’s head up as there’s always a search for something. It would help a lot if she specified what that something was.

Having watched Knoxville’s new comedy, Sweet Dreams, I couldn’t help but look for it while contemplating the film’s future. What genre it targets: comedy, drama, or just another adaptation that portrays the life revolving around substance abuse? Like most comedians looking to get big, the movie’s lead actor Johnny Knoxville wants to be known for more than just bull riding that caused a traumatic brain injury for that’s for sure (Jackass Forever).

The difference here is that Knoxville started at rock bottom. Lets just say Knoxville emulates the blended middle and meets most of the expectations. Of course, moments of juvenile stupidities are to be expected in this movie. But there are also painful moments featuring hefty reality and Lije Sarki manages to deliver some genuine juicy moments when you adore the characters. Given how the film is, one wishes that the tone of Sweet dreams was more cheerful and wishful.

Sarki’s script centers on Morris (Knoxville), who is first seen on a park bench half naked. He is unkempt, smells terrible, and even tries to solicit money from a helpless woman. Morris has just come out of a severe alcohol haze and is looking for a phone to contact his daughter. Before we know it, his mom, played by Beth Grant, goes crazy and takes him to a treatment facility to sober him up. There are some side effects including clammy skin, loss of appetite, nausea, and a terrible case of sleeplessness.

The counselor, here’s a surprise, called Pete (Mo’s Mohammed Amer), works out of a house in the center of LA. It was Peter’s life goal and ambition to work in a detox center, unfortunately, he has failed even in that so now he is a lone wolf. He is hoping to come up with a new structure that is devoid of any financial goals. Pete’s logic is that no substance abuse center is able to find true healing as that would mean a loss of income through reimbursements.

It seems Sarki is drawing from his life experiences when creating this film, although it did take me a while to gather data on this due to what appears to be an active effort by Paramount to conceal it. I wouldn’t consider it ‘bad’ but I do think that the Rotten Tomatoes ratings are higher than deserved. To me, it makes me feel that this would be like if Kolya was re-created as an adaptation by Adam Sandler where he plays an irresponsible father in Big Daddy.

Still, there is something that at times is so honest and so real which I could instantly relate to from my time spent as a college student working in detox facilities and trying to chart my life. Characters like Garvey (played by Theo Von) who purposefully dirties his room so it stinks is shown to explain quite an effective offensive strategy, one he may have developed in his youth to avoid being hurt. Those who experience addiction and show signs of accepting change as well as the moments that lead them to such transformations are extremely scarce.

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What is even more disturbing, however, is hearing Mo, who was Morris’s contact for information on patients, and sales to audience members, mention success rates in such battles these are the relapses, of when one turns their back, knowing that they will never return, and not because they have succeeded. Such phenomena enable astonishing understanding of groups like Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous why don’t you think they are always of the same strength?

Unfortunately, such instances stay with me but other attempts, such as beating the softball tournament to save the facility, appear to be overdone. I would be grateful if such events could be reported to me. This leads to other problems, namely the clumsy handling of the idea of a team effort, which draws attention to the fact that it takes a great deal of social endurance in order to win such a tough battle.

Sweet Dreams is a film of contradictions, but not the least marred by Knoxville’s performance. That’s because the film is well-intentioned but doesn’t get the central theme of addiction across, and misses out on the comedy as it is somewhat out of context.

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