Adam (Mark Ruffalo) is in a 12-step program and has 5 years of sobriety, which is defined as no sex outside of a committed relationship. His sponsor is Mike (Tim Robbins), who has multiple addictions and does a very good job of portraying a dry drunk in his relationship with his son, Danny. Danny has just gotten out of jail, having served time for crimes he committed in the furtherance of his addiction, and while Mike can forgive any transgression in his group members, he cannot forgive his son--nor has he asked his son for forgiveness. He verbally and physically abused him as a child, where he grew up watching his mother tolerate repeated beatings and repeated infidelities.
So it all sounds pretty miserable, right, but the inconsistencies, the demands that one do everyting your way, and the lack of personal responsibility is very much the life that addicts have lived and the urges they fight, many of them every day. Adam manages his addiction by keeping everything out--no TV, no relationships, no temptations--and that is not freedom from addiction, it is freedom from the consequences of the addiction. really tense at times, very funny at times, but a lot of it rings very true.
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