Clean and Sober (1988)

Clean and Sober is the rare addiction drama that doesn’t posture or preach—it just tells the truth, and trusts great acting to do the heavy lifting. Michael Keaton, shedding every trace of his comedic sheen, gives a raw, searching performance that makes Daryl’s charm, panic, and gradual humility feel painfully human rather than movie-made. The film’s tone is sober and intimate, finding poignancy in small moments of accountability, hard-earned connection, and the uneasy hope of starting over. It’s not an easy watch and it won’t be for anyone looking for a glossy redemption story, but if you want a compelling, honest drama about what recovery actually costs, it hits with the force of lived experience.

Clean and Sober is clearly trying to be a no-gloss, accountability-first addiction drama, and it deserves credit for taking the subject seriously and giving Michael Keaton room to stretch beyond his comedic image. But it’s a heavy sit: the tone stays grim, the pacing can feel punishing rather than absorbing, and it isn’t interested in entertaining you so much as cornering you into watching someone hit bottom. The romance angle, meant to humanize the recovery journey, can come off as forced and a bit melodramatic, nudging the story toward tragedy that feels engineered instead of earned. If you want a nuanced, process-focused recovery film (or you’re sensitive to potentially inauthentic AA-style interactions), this may frustrate you—but if you’re okay with blunt, downbeat cautionary storytelling, it has real bite.