Clean and Sober (1988)

A hustling drug addict checks himself into rehab to escape trouble with the law and realizes that it's exactly what he needs.

Director:

Glenn Gordon Caron

Writer:

Tod Carroll

Stars:

Michael Keaton, Kathy Baker, Morgan Freeman

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Keaton	...	Daryl Poynter
Kathy Baker	...	Charlie Standers
Morgan Freeman	...	Craig
Tate Donovan	...	Donald Towle
Henry Judd Baker	...	Xavier
Claudia Christian	...	Iris
J. David Krassner	...	Tiller
Dakin Matthews	...	Bob
Mary Catherine Martin	...	Cheryl Ann
Patricia Quinn	...	June (as Pat Quinn)
Terri Hanauer	...	Admissions Counsellor
David A. Kimball	...	Doctor
Veronica Redd	...	Head Nurse - Detox
Sharie Doolittle	...	Nurse
Sharon Medearis	...	Nurse

Storyline

Michael Keaton plays Daryl Poynter, a hot shot real estate agent who just happens to have a cocaine and drinking problem. One morning, he wakes up to find a dead woman in his bed (someone he had been partying with the night before) from a cocaine overdose. He also just happens to receive a phone call from his employers telling him a huge sum of money is missing from one of his accounts. Panicking, Daryl decides to check into a drug rehab to hide from the law, where he meets tough cookie Morgan Freeman. A recovering addict himself, he now works as a drug counselor, and knows all the tricks Daryl tries to pull. Soon Daryl discovers he just might be in the right place, after all.

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Plot Keywords:

cocaine | drinking | real estate agent | 12 step program | drunkenness | 

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Taglines:

Thirty remarkable days in the life of an ordinary man.

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

Michael Keaton and Kathy Baker have appeared in Tim Burton films, Keaton in Beetlejuice (1988), Batman (1989), Batman Returns (1992) and Dumbo (2019), and Baker in Edward Scissorhands (1990).

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Goofs

The movie accurately references many of the twelve steps alcoholics use to work toward sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous. However, before their first meeting, Daryl's sponsor instructs him to complete Step Four by making a fearless, searching personal moral inventory. No AA sponsor would instruct a new member to begin the recovery program with Step Four, nor with any other step than Step One.

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Quotes

Darryl: That was a ninety thousand dollar phone call, man. Ninety thousand dollars! 90 grand, man. That's the Stock Market, babe, and it doesn't give a fuck if I'm in a hospital or not! Hey, the American Stock Market really doesn't care if some asshole who makes three hundred dollars a weeks says I can't use the fuckin' phone. I'm close, right Craig. Like three-ten, maybe three-fifteen. That's about it, isn't it Craigy. Yeah, oh boy, big three-oh-seven a week. Boy, you gotta allocate that motherfucker,...

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Connections

Referenced in At the Movies: Jacknife/The Adventures of Baron Munchausen/Skin Deep/Chocolat (1989)

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Soundtracks

Tighten Up
Written by Billy Buttier and Archie Bell
Performed by Archie Bell & The Drells (as Archie Bell and The Drells)
Courtesy of Atlantic Recording Corp.
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

Keaton Robbed At Oscar Time

Michael Keaton delivers such an intense, realistic and powerful performance in this movie, he should have AT LEAST been awarded an Academy Award nomination. This stands as his best dramatic performance ever, in a career filled with many fine dramatic and comedic roles. As Darryl Poynter, Keaton shows us a character that starts out as a total heel and a user, but is slowly transformed by his stay in a drug and alcohol rehab center (and his interactions with others there)into someone who genuinely begins to see the errors of his life and makes a concerted effort to change.

A fine ensemble cast adds to the drama, including Morgan Freeman, M. Emmet Walsh, Kathy Baker and Tate Donovan. The script by former National Lampoon writer Tod Carroll is filled with memorable characters and realistic situations and is further enhanced by the solid no-nonsense direction by Glen Gordon Caron.

An excellent and WAY under-appreciated movie that was thrown away by Warner Bros., "Clean And Sober is a riveting drama of rehabilitation and redemption that will stick with you long after you see it. True-life drama doesn't come much better than this. **** 4 stars

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 August 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Clean and Sober

Filming Locations:

Darby Borough, Pennsylvania, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,205,628, 14 August 1988

Gross USA:

$8,674,093

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$8,674,093

Company Credits

Production Co:

Imagine Films Entertainment, Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1