Glenn Close and Mila Kunis absolutely sizzle in Four Good Days. An addict daughter needs just 4 good days before an interventional injection can essentially save her from her addiction. But, 4 clean days in a row is an enormous challenge for an addict. The movie takes you through a myriad of emotions shared between mother and daughter, together fighting the demons that come with hardcore addiction. If you liked the brilliantly weaved drama, you will love these 4 movies like Four Good Days.
A fan of drama movies? We wrote up some suggestions for recently released drama films. Here are movies like Riders of Justice and films like Every Breath You Take.
4 Quality Drama Movies like Four Good Days (2021)
1 Flight (2012)
IMDB 7.3 | 331K Ratings
Denzel Washington plays Whip Whitaker, a commercial pilot. On one of his flights, his aircraft develops a mechanical snag. Whip uses his experience and intuitiveness to save countless lives on board. But, despite the heroic save, there’s a problem.
Whip’s toxicology report comes back positive. Whip had been drinking before he flew the ill-fated plane. The airline tries to save him, and by doing that, itself, by trying to protect him against charges that his toxicology report can otherwise bring. All Whip has to do is hold it together until the date of the hearing. But, can a raging alcoholic manage to hold off on drinking, even if the circumstances are as trying as these. Just like in Four Good Days, the days leading up to the hearing are tense. Will Whip fall off the wagon or can he keep it together?
Don Cheadle is brilliant as the airline’s high profile guy trying to keep Whip and the airline away from an enormous scandal. Kelly Reilly delivers a great performance as a troubled Whip’s love interest. John Goodman is excellent too, as Whip’s trusted friend.
The star of the movie is of course Denzel Washington. He brilliantly portrays a character who is well aware of his drinking problem, but just can’t do anything about it. The climax boils down to Whip’s testimony, where he intensely struggles with an ethical dilemma.
Just a brilliant movie with fantastic acting, a tight plot and brilliant direction.
2 Traffic (2000)
IMDB 7.6 | 198K Ratings
Traffic is a tense movie that revolves around drugs. Michael Douglas is a conservative judge who has been newly appointed to take on the war against drugs. Further fueling his crusade is the fact that his teenage daughter is a cocaine addict.
Directed by the brilliant Steven Soderbergh, the movie won 4 Oscars. It tells the tale of drugs from 4 perspectives. Robert’s (Michael Douglas) is one. The others are; From the two DEA agents trying to track down Helena Ayala (Catherine Zeta-Jones) a woman who is attempting to take the helm of a Mexican drug cartel. There is also Javier Rodriguez (Benicio Del Toro), a Mexican constable, who has his own say in the convoluted drug relationship between the USA and Mexico.
A tense watch, from start to finish. This movie won Benicio Del Toro an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Soderbergh took home the Oscar for Best Director. The other two Oscars were won for Writing and Editing.
3 Still Alice (2014)
IMDB 7.5 | 128K Ratings
If the acting of Glenn Close and Mila Kunis is what impressed you with Four Good Days, we highly recommend Still Alice.
Julianne Moore is a reputed Linguistics teacher with a loving family, a husband and three adult children. But, her world falls apart when she begins to forget words, then events, then people. Diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s, she tries to navigate her crumbling life and her changing relationship with her family.
Alec Baldwin plays Dr. John Howland. Kristen Stewart, Kate Bosworth and Hunter Parrish play the three children. The star of the movie is definitely Julianne Moore. She is just phenomenal. It’s no surprise that she won the Oscar for best actress in a Leading Role, in 2015, for her performance in Still Alice.
Like how Molly (Mila Kunis) brilliantly portrayed a woman helplessly controlled by her addiction to drugs, Julianne Moore’s character Alice Howland takes you through the inevitable changes experienced by those suffering with Alzheimer’s.
4 Everything Must Go (2010)
IMDB 6.4 | 49K
Everything Must Go features Will Ferrell in the lead. We know what you are thinking. Really? A Will Ferrell movie as a suggestion for a movie like Four Good Days. But, we’ve got this movie on the list because it is a very telling drama, with subtle humor. It’s difficult to balance the two genres and this movie does it quite beautifully.
Ferrell plays Nick Halsey. He’s just lost his job he had for 16 years. To make matters worse, his wife also leaves him, throwing out all his stuff on their home’s front yard. Nick begins to drink and refuses to leave the yard. A friend tells him that he can pass off his loitering as a legally held yard sale for 5 days, after which he will be arrested. During those days is when Nick tries to come to terms with his new life. But, it’s not without copious amounts of drinking and struggling with a clear alcohol addiction.
He enlists the help of a kid who bicycles around in the neighborhood. Also trying to help him is his neighbor in Samantha (Rebecca Hall). Michael Pena plays the friend.
A movie that you might not be so convinced about before watching it. But, we feel you will appreciate it if you did. A very underrated movie in our opinion.