Okay it looks like some people are not going to be entirely happy with my rating for this particular movie, but I got to be honest with how I felt, so here's my review for The Lost Weekend.
Plot: Don Birnam is an alcoholic who has spend the past six years living with his brother Wick due to his addiction. Wick along with Don's girlfriend Helen have been trying to get Don to break his addiction and get him to try to stop but to no avail. Wick begins to give up on trying to help his brother, but Helen is refuses to give up.
Now I wouldn't exactly say that this didn't deserve to win best picture during its time. But I just can't help but find the whole thing to be a cliche on a whole. I mean don't get me wrong, it's discussing a very serious and dark problem that countless people suffer from in any day and age, not just back in 1945. And there's nothing wrong with that. Also they do display it very well with how desperate Don gets when he wants a drink and how hard it is to fight it, making it little wonder that he won Best Actor for his performance. Heck, the last quarter or so of the film was pretty suspenseful, especially with the rat and the bat moment. While that scene didn't scare me to death or anything, I will admit that it was really creepy and I'd hate to be like Don and see something like that whether I'm drunk or not. Even though the bat was totally fake when it was flying around, they made up for it with the ending with the rat squeals, the blood, and how Don was screaming in fear. That scene just really stood out for me. So with that said, it does show the terrible things that alcoholics go through, and it ends with a line Don says that was a really good way to give the audience the all around message. But when it comes to a story, I guess I just didn't find it all that original. I mean it's not terrible or anything, but under a couple exceptions like the rat and the bat moment, it wasn't all that new to me with how he's always dying for a drink and he has a woman in his life who refuses to give up. That kind of stopped me from liking this film the way everyone else seems to have. It's not that I hated it - I mean I'm giving it a positive rating and all - but it was still an issue for me with the movie as a whole.
And that's my review for The Lost Weekend. As a story it may not be that thrilling for me personally, but it still is well acted, has some really good suspenseful moments, and it does go into a problem that many people in 1945, and today and...well ANY time and age go through that makes this film worth watching.
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