Writer: Asha Gizelle M.

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Watch this if you liked: "Shame"

"Thanks for Sharing" essays the lives of three addicts (sex addicts to be precise) who are at various stages towards the road of recovery. Adam (Mark Ruffalo), a successful professional who is almost reaching his goal in completely healing from sex addiction which he strongly opines to be a disease, is helping with mentoring Neil (Josh Gad), a wise, young doctor who has uncontrollable urges to act out his desires. Mike (Tim Robbins), who is the leader that everyone looks up to, has familial issues in his own waking life. Boy meets girl and Adam (Mark Ruffalo) meets Phoebe (Gwyneth Paltrow) whom he thinks is a perfect fit for him. But he has one issue. Sexual addiction, that is. Should Phoebe (Gwyneth Paltrow) stay cool about it?

Stuart Blumberg the director and co-writer of "Thanks for Sharing", which is his directorial debut, has chosen to work on a slice-of-life theme rather than something broad and overwhelming. Albeit being a nominee for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for co-writing "The Kids Are All Right", this time round he has worked on a full-fledged grown up movie where relationships, addiction and holistic approach would be the dominating themes. Blumberg has done a fairly good job for a first-timer that tips the scale towards positivity. Blumberg could have worked with smaller-scaled actors or a sitcom cast instead of a throng of prestigious awardees and nominees to have expectations kept in check.

Set in New York, "Thanks for Sharing" brings in the first-world problems lived through each day by the characters. The cast members have done a remarkable job. Ruffalo, whom you must have seen in "Now You See Me" earlier this year, has nailed his part of being a sex addict who is much healed after five years of sobriety. But Gad has obviously out-shined Ruffalo whose role in turn was a little muted in this 112 minutes of running time. The "Love & Other Drugs" star as usual is very natural and gripping in his performance. He seems totally unaware of the camera's presence. Perhaps Ruffalo is too charming for the masses to accept him in a role of a cringe-worthy sex addict. Kudos to him for being brave to take on such a role. Paltrow worked her charms just like in other movie and it sure was just as efficient this time.

The director, producer, screen-writer, musician and actor Tim Robbins who has rose to fame with his monumental films such as "The Shawshank Redemption", "Cinema Verite" and "Mystic River" once again has done it with "Thanks for Sharing". Although it is far from a monumental movie, his pivotal role in "Thanks for Sharing" has gone to his list of impressive accolades. Robbins hasn't done just one, but three roles in the movie - long recovered sex addict, a counselling figure, and a failed father to an aggressive son played by Patrick Fugit who was also part of "Cinema Verite", a television film.

Alecia Moore whom we all fondly know as Pink, the pop-rock songstress, is part of "Thanks for Sharing". And be prepared to be taken in awe by her breezy performance in the film where she nails it without trying too hard or at least it seems like it. And this is one of the instances where she went by her real name instead of her stage name, Pink.

The first half of the mellowed version of a rom-com film goes all too well. Honestly, there will be more gasping moments than laughing to your heart's content moments. Just when you think (and pray) everything is going to be alright, the second half of the movie has all the characters rear their ugly heads. The twist, (you wouldn't exactly call it a twist actually) or rather the plot happens when all the characters go bad, in a sequence of one-by-one. "Thanks for Sharing" has a crescendo effect where it starts off all nice and sunshine and erupts into something that the audience had expected but hoped that would not happen.

Catch this movie if you are keen on finding out what sexual addicts go through in their daily waking lives, but be prepared to forget this movie as soon as the credits start rolling in.

Cinema Online, 17 December 2013