Review originally published January 24, 2012 as part of Film.com's coverage of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

Where it could have easily caved to melodrama or hysterics, instead "Smashed" presented a horrifying, touching and memorable love story: the love between a woman, a man and alcohol. It's easily the best film I saw at Sundance 2012.

Married couple Kate (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Charlie (Aaron Paul) love to party. They drink in the morning, they drink on the job, and they drink as much as they can at night. Drinking isn't just a pasttime, it's an all consuming interest.  When Kate has a few harrowing experiences such as waking up in an abandoned lot by herself after drinking too much, drunkenly stealing alcohol  and an incident at her teaching job, she decides that it might be time to cut back a bit. As she struggles with her new-found sobriety and how it affects her life, she finds that it also begins to drive a wedge into her marriage, as her husband Charlie continues to drink. When we love someone for who they are, what happens when who they are completely changes?

"Smashed" is subtle, beautiful, and sad. Mary Elizabeth Winstead's performance runs the gamut from funny to disturbing, and is the finest acting performance I've seen in ages.  Characters are made, and Kate is torn down and rebuilt from the ground up by the deft hands of Winstead, in a performance that it is a privilege to watch. Nick Offerman is delightful and well-cast as a fellow recovering alcoholic and Vice President at Kate's school, interested in helping her recover, and Aaron Paul, best known for his work in "Breaking Bad," finds himself in another role that requires accurate portrayal of substance abuse problems, and he nails it. Megan Mullally deserves a mention as the principal of the school as well, her kindness and relentless optimism stands up in harsh opposition to Kate's survivalist instincts.

It's not often a film about a seemingly heavy subject matter can handle it without going too dark or maudlin, but "Smashed" is very nearly perfect. The cinematography is excellent and the use of Smog's song Our Anniversary in the end credits is an inspired choice.  Alcoholism is a scary word, but as I watched the film I recognized people I knew. Not as far-gone or unaware as Kate is when she realizes she needs help, but in the friend who casually drives drunk, or the people who need to drink to engage with others. As with any addiction, what starts out harmless enough can spiral out of control, especially when you are surrounded by people who all engage in the exact same behavior.

Not all of "Smashed" is focused on Kate's alcoholism, there are more than a few scenes of respite as we begin to hope that perhaps the love between Kate and Charlie is strong enough to survive, but that disease changes people and there are some things you can never come back from.

Grade: A