MEDIA: FILM REVIEW –

April 28, 2021 – What sets “Four Good Days” apart from the many other films of its ilk are Close and Kunis, who sharpen and elevate its well-worn contours with vivid performances that are honest and grounded. These are characters you can connect to, on both sides of the equation. A new drug therapy — the “opioid antagonist” Naltrexone, which promises to block the effect of opiates with a monthly shot, taking away the high that feeds addiction — beckons. There’s only one catch: Molly can’t start taking it until her system is completely free of all the substances she’s been abusing. She’s got four more days to go.

What transpires is what you’d expect, made viscerally real by two strong actors. Close is at her best when Deb is struggling to feel normal — during a quick catch-up lunch at a diner, for instance, with her “good” daughter (Carla Gallo) — as Deb suddenly realizes that she’s forgotten her wallet at home. She can’t enjoy 15 minutes of downtime, we learn, because Molly could be looking for cash to buy a fix.

That tidal pull Deb feels — part love, part mistrust, part guilt — is palpable, as palpable as the hunger of the monkey on Molly’s back. And Kunis does her best to keep up with Close, in a performance that’s raw and unglamorous.

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