Film

Thanks for Sharing

Name: Thanks for Sharing
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Released: 2013
Cast: Mark Ruffalo, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim Robbins, Josh Gad, P!nk

Social drama

A comedy-drama about three people navigating sex addiction recovery in New York, where therapy groups become unlikely places of connection. It takes a disease seriously without losing humour, finding warmth in shame and vulnerability. For anyone who's watched addiction stories and wondered what happens in the rooms where people actually heal.

TMDb rating

3.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like comedy that treats recovery-group confessions with warmth and sharp observation, where the laughs come from people trying hard and failing gently.

Skip it if you need a story with a clear plot engine, since this one moves through meetings, loose relationships and small domestic moments rather than driving toward a single big payoff.

What it asks of you: A loose, episodic shape across just under two hours, with group scenes that linger and talky, uneven stretches more than set-piece momentum.

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

If you liked this

Trainspotting1996

Raw, funny, brutal portrait of addiction where the characters feel real and the consequences bite. It understands that addiction stories are also stories about friendship, denial, and the desperate ways people try to change.

But Intensely dark and visually chaotic in places. Some viewers find the Scottish dialect challenging, and it doesn't offer easy catharsis or neat redemption.

Requiem for a Dream2000

Addiction in all its forms—drugs, food, television, love—told with devastating empathy. Aronofsky makes you feel the spiral, not judge it, and somehow that's more humbling than any lecture.

But Emotionally punishing and visually relentless. The ending is obliterating. Some people find it too much, and that's a fair call.

28 Days2000

Sandra Bullock in a straight role, funny and heartbreaking in equal measure. It's about rehab, recovery, and learning to live with yourself. Oddly tender without being sentimental.

But Follows the recovery-story beats you might see coming. The tone shifts between comedy and drama can feel uneven if you're looking for consistent genre footing.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Thanks for Sharing

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Shame2011

Both centre sex addiction specifically, but where Thanks for Sharing leans on community and humour as medicine, Shame is isolation and aesthetics—the inverse temperature of the same room.

Michael Fassbender in a portrait of sex addiction that's pure cinema—visual, haunting, almost wordless. It doesn't explain or excuse; it shows you the texture of a life built on compulsion. Devastating and beautiful.

But Very explicit sexual content throughout. Long stretches with no plot—just a man existing in his addiction. If you need narrative momentum or want the film to judge him, it won't give you either.

Dopesick2021

Limited series about addiction—opioid addiction specifically—that traces how it happens to ordinary people. Michael Keaton is extraordinary, and it refuses to separate the personal from the systemic.

But Anger is the dominant emotion. It's a story about corporate malfeasance as much as individual struggle, which some find more depressing than cathartic.

The Sopranos1999

Tony Soprano in therapy across eight seasons. It's the godfather text for addiction-adjacent storytelling: men in rooms talking about themselves, slowly, painfully, sometimes hilariously.

But Slow. You're committing to seventy hours. And therapy episodes don't have the dramatic momentum of crime ones—some people tune out there.

Buster's Mal Heart2017

Andrew Rannells as a man spiralling out of control, jumping between time periods. Disorienting in the best way—it mirrors how addiction fractures your sense of reality.

But Deliberately fragmented narrative. If you want linear storytelling, this will frustrate you. It's also quiet and contemplative rather than propulsive.

Fleabag2016

A woman cycling through self-destruction with wit and self-awareness. It's addiction-adjacent—to sex, to chaos, to avoidance—but told with such style and humour you feel less alone in your mess.

But Very British tone. The fourth-wall breaks can grate. And it's short, so if you're hungry for more, you'll hit the end frustrated.

A Prayer Before Dawn2018

Joe Cole as an addict in a Thai prison learning Muay Thai. Sparse, visceral, about the body as a place to reclaim yourself. Genuinely moving without sentimentality.

But Extremely bleak for stretches. The boxing scenes are graphic. It's not a feel-good recovery story; it's gritty and unpolished.

Mistress America2015

Both use comedy as a survival tool when facing uncomfortable truths about desire and dependence. The tone is lighter, but the wound underneath is the same.

A comedy that's actually about compulsion and need—a younger woman obsessed with an older friend who can't quite save her. It's funny and painful at once, capturing how we project onto people we think will fix us.

But Twee indie comedy sensibility. Some find the narration affected. It's character-driven chaos rather than plot, so if you want shape and resolution, you won't find it.

We Need to Talk About Kevin2011

Both explore the shame and secrecy around compulsive behaviour, and both suggest that the only way out is brutal honesty—talking, finally, about what you can't stop doing.

Tilda Swinton as a mother examining compulsion, resentment, and the ways we're trapped by our own natures. It's not about sex addiction, but about being unable to break patterns, unable to escape yourself. Devastating and brilliant.

But Extremely dark. Told in fractured time. Some find it punitive toward the mother, and the violence is offscreen but the emotional weight is crushing.