Michael Morris directs Andrea Riseborough, Marc Maron and Allison Janney in this character study drama about an alcoholic woman who hits rock bottom and returns home to the town where she is seen as a joke because she blew her lottery win on booze.

Exists solely as a showcase for Riseborough to act desperate and destitute. And I’m going to push against the Academy nomination here and say the performance is a bit… gurning. This tale of recovery has an eventual sweetness worth waiting around for… and often harks back to the revival of “Woman’s Pictures” that cropped up in the late Seventies /early Eighties to give the likes of Ellen Burstyn, Sally Field or Goldie Hawn another shot at an Oscar. While everyone else feels like they are on a poverty pantomime safari, podcasting king Maron actually hits a neat seam of reality with his good guy turn. Fine.

5

Perfect Double Bill: W.E. (2011)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/