
When amidst the hauntingly gorgeous harmonies brought to life by Eurythmics in Sweet Dreams, have you ever thought what the song classifies as the notion of sweet dreams? Well, unlike most of the song, she does not seem to be of such sentiments although, do bear in mind she does start quite a lot with the statement about keeping one’s chin up since there is a ‘thing’ that is always being looked for. Please, those could do with more definition of what thing it was indeed.
But having seen Knoxville’s latest comedy, Sweet Dreams, it’s hard not to sense its spirit while contemplating what genre this film even is targeting Comedy, drama, or quite simply another movie based on a substance abuse lifestyle. As with almost every comedian wanting to make it big, who can forget Johnny Knoxville, a lead actor sure does not want to be famous for only bull riding that resulted in a traumatic brain injury (Jackass Forever).
The difference is that this is Hollywood, and Knoxville started from stark zero. Let’s assume Knoxville represents the average aesthetics to appear in the blended middle. He is also bound to have outbursts of juvenile stupidities as well in this film.
There are some painful realities too. Brij Sarki has managed to bring forth some genuinely juicy moments seeing which you are ready to root for the characters. Considering how somber and bleak this film is, Sweet Dreams would be a more optimistic and hopeful tone.
Sarki’s script revolves around Morris (Knoxville), who is first introduced to us slumped on a park bench, with his clothes barely on his body. His appearance is unkempt, he smells awful, and he even attempts to pester a defenseless female for money. Morris has just emerged from the grasp of an intense episode of drunken stupor and needs a phone to call his daughter. Before you know it, his mother, for the ferocity with which played by Beth Grant, loses it always to drive her to a center to detoxify her. There are some side effects including clammy skin, loss of appetite, nausea, and insomnia am I right, no?
The counselor, hold onto your chairs, is called Pete (Mo’s Mohammed Amer), and he has a working space out of a home located in downtown LA. Working at a detox facility was Peter’s dream however he is unable to even achieve that, which is why he is now a wolf on his own. He is optimistic about formulating a new framework which does not aim to achieve any kind of financial benchmarks. According to Pete, no rehabilitation facility can uncover the true solution as that must result in a loss in business through billing.
However, there are times in the movie where the element is true and real and speaks to what one worked with in detox drug treatment facilities as a college student trying to figure life out. Garvey, who is portrayed by Theo Von is shown a reasonable strategy for an offense which is to purposely dirty his room so it smells which he may have devised in childhood to avoid getting hurt. People who suffer from addiction and someone who like to carry with them the memories and the people who help enable them are very very few.
Alas, such cases are lingering in me but, for example, beating the softball tournament for the purpose of not letting the facility close seems out of place. Such events, I would appreciate if I was informed about them, greatly narrow the communal effort to win such an arduous fight to other issues. This gives rise to other problems, namely the awkward management of the emphasis on team power, which implies that it requires enormous social stamina to win such a fierce battle.
Sweet Dreams is a film of contrast, but still, the overlap isn’t quite terribly impacted by Knoxville’s portrayal. This is because while the movie has good intentions, it fails to capture the main idea of addiction and instead of being funny, it is rather funny in a different context.
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