Delayed Reaction: Half Nelson

The Pitch: What would make Ryan Gosling less appealing? Crack.

An inner-city junior high teacher tries to balance his career with his crack addiction.

Ryan Gosling has two Oscar nominations. That sounds a little low, because he's had a lot of movies that he could've been nominated for. One of the nominations is obviously La La Land. That film was too big and too dominated by its two stars for him not to be nominated. If I asked the average movie fan what his other nomination was for, I'm sure I'd hear a lot of answers. It could've been for his supporting work as part of the large The Big Short ensemble. Michelle Williams got a nomination for Blue Valentine. Why not Gosling too? The Believer was his coming out as a serious actor. Lars and the Real Girl is more of an indie Spirit kind of movie, but it wouldn't be unheard of for the star to get a nomination. Drive was certainly buzzy enough to believe he got a nomination. The Ides of March sure has the look of a movie that got some Oscar nominations. Hell, The Notebook is the kind of breakout role that could easily get a random nomination. None of these movies are the kind you'd call locks, but if you flip a coin a half dozen times, you'd expect it to land on tails more than once.

Instead, his other Oscar nomination came from this small indie movie back in 2006. It wouldn't be my pick if it was up to me, but it makes perfect sense. It's a character study centered on him as a crack-addicted, charismatic middle school teacher. That's the description I'd come up with as a joke example of Oscar bait. The movie reminded me a lot of Smashed, which is a shame, because Mary Elizabeth Winstead blows him away by comparison. He's excellent though. The film shows how he can live this double life as a pretty great teacher and charming guy yet also be a self-loathing addict in a believable way. I loved the intercut scenes toward the end showing how his family is versus Drey's (Shareeka Epps).

There's something about the ending that doesn't sit well with me. When Drey ends up selling to Mr. Dunne (Gosling) during a particularly seedy episode, it was like using a sledgehammer when a gentle tap would've done the trick. I did appreciate what it was going for though and that the very end didn't try to promise too much about if Gosling would get his act together.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend