A solid turn from the actor as an alcoholic coach can’t save an otherwise uninvolving and underwritten redemption tale
There’s an irresistible external narrative attached to Warrior director Gavin O’Connor’s new alcoholism drama The Way Back: the addict at its centre is played by
Ben Affleck, an actor only recently embracing sobriety. While prepping the movie, Affleck was also entering rehab and has spoken since of how playing the role was a unique form of therapy, an intriguing real-world dimension for a film that reads on paper like familiar plane movie fodder. Because the other off-screen journey is that of a project slated for an awards-friendly, festival-bowing October release yanked back to the first weekend of March, a month not typically associated with serious-minded adult dramas.
Related: Ben Affleck's Batman was hard to like – but the man himself deserves some empathy