Film

Ruben Guthrie

Name: Ruben Guthrie
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance
Released: 2015
Cast: Patrick Brammall, Abbey Lee, Alex Dimitriades, Harriet Dyer, Jeremy Sims

Social drama

A sharp comedy-drama about a Sydney advertising executive hitting rock bottom and trying to get sober in a city designed to stop him. It's tender and darkly funny, wrestling with addiction and identity without sanctimony. For anyone who's watched someone they care about struggle, or wondered what sobriety actually costs.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like a sharp, sour comedy about a man who is his own worst company, where the jokes land because the wreckage underneath is real.

Skip it if you need your addiction stories gentle and uplifting, since this one stays close to the mess and rarely lets the mood lift for long.

What it asks of you: Settle in for ninety-four minutes of loose, restless scenes that drift between Sydney nights and their hungover mornings, with the comedy and the ache arriving side by side.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Shame2011

Michael Fassbender's portrait of addiction and shame in New York—the same engine as Ruben Guthrie, but trained on sexual compulsion. Beautifully bleak, uncompromising.

But Brutally explicit and offers no comfort or redemption arc. It's a film about drowning, not survival.

Fleabag2016

Also Australian-adjacent charm meeting real damage. Phoebe Waller-Bridge breaks the fourth wall to confess the mess underneath the performance. Funny and devastating by turns.

But The British accent and literary self-awareness might feel like a different frequency entirely.

The Spectacular Now2013

Miles Teller as a charming, hollow guy whose drinking is the glue holding him together—until it isn't. Gentle and observant about what addiction looks like from the inside.

But Framed as a romance, which softens the sharper edges. Some will find it too kind to its central character.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Ruben Guthrie

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Another Round2020

Both films use drinking as the frame for a deeper question: what does it mean to feel alive? One says sobriety is the path; this one asks if the question itself is the trap.

Danish film about four teachers experimenting with staying slightly drunk all day. It's the inverse of Ruben Guthrie—a group riffing on whether alcohol is the answer, not the problem. Exhilarating and then horrifying.

But Subtitled. Also morally complicated in ways that might frustrate anyone wanting a clear stance on drinking.

A Ghost Story2017

Casey Affleck haunting a house after death, watching his widow grieve and move on. Like Ruben Guthrie, it's about identity dissolving and being unable to let go of a place.

But Experimental and slow-burn. The famous pie-eating scene divides people sharply.

Leaving Las Vegas1995

Nicolas Cage's Oscar-winning collapse into alcoholism, set in the city actively conspiring to keep him drinking. The template Ruben Guthrie riffs on—but darker, more doomed.

But Genuinely depressing and sexually violent. Not cathartic, just true.

Under the Skin2014

Scarlett Johansson driving through Glasgow, slowly realizing the gap between her mask and her self. Like Ruben Guthrie, it's about performance cracking open.

But Cryptic, experimental, and minimal dialogue. Some will be lost or bored within ten minutes.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind2004

Jim Carrey trying to hold onto memories of a relationship even as they're being erased. About the work of staying connected to who you are.

But Fractured timeline and magical realism. It requires patience and a willingness to hold multiple threads at once.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind poster

The Banshees of Inisherin2022

Colin Farrell as a man confronting why he drinks and who he's become in a small Irish community. Funny, angry, and unexpectedly moving about damage and repair.

But Bleak and Irish. If you don't connect with the central friendship, the whole thing collapses.

The Tender Bar2021

Both are love stories about men learning to build a self outside the bottle. But where Ruben Guthrie is set in a city screaming for your attention, this is set in a room where you can finally hear yourself think.

Ben Affleck as a bartender uncle raising his nephew in a Long Island dive bar. A quiet, affectionate portrait of how we inherit our habits and how one person can quietly save us from them.

But Nostalgic and gentle where Ruben Guthrie is sharp. If you want edge, this won't scratch that itch.

Synecdoche, New York2008

Both films watch their protagonists lose the plot in the city they live in, until the city and the character are the same thing. But where Ruben Guthrie offers the possibility of stepping out, Synecdoche suggests there's nowhere to step to.

Charlie Kaufman's baroque, crushing film about a theater director constructing a life-sized replica of New York inside a warehouse, disappearing into performance until there's no one home. Not about addiction directly—about dissolution through obsession.

But Deliberately opaque and exhausting. Some will feel it's self-indulgent to the point of cruelty. You need to be in the mood for difficulty.