Can you say both too much and not enough at the same time?
“aka Charlie Sheen” is a two-part documentary released on Wednesday, Sept. 10, retelling the story of actor Charlie Sheen’s life through the lense of his struggles with substance abuse. Directed by Andrew Renzi, the film spans from Sheen’s birth to the present day.
There are multiple areas in which the structure of the film undermines the storytelling. Early in the film’s first episode, Sheen describes how he looks at his life in three sections: partying, partying with problems and just problems. In the film’s second episode, Sheen’s ex-wife, Denise Richards, echoes this pattern of three sections in describing her life with Sheen: the time in which they met and were married, the divorce and the aftermath of the divorce. It would have made sense for the documentary as a whole to be presented in three parts, reflecting how many of the subjects saw Sheen’s life. Partially due to the decision to only use two parts, the story is not told with this thematic set up but rather chronologically.
The way in which the events of the film are ordered and depicted reminded me of the 2019 Queen biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Both films struggle with presenting too many events to have enough time to comment on the importance of many of them. They summarize the events of the protagonist’s life without providing much substance or exploration of new developments. There is an inherent importance to his marriage with Richards, a period in which he had multiple children with her and began to abuse recreational pills. However, it’s hard to contextualize that importance when he is divorced from Richards, remarried and relapsing on cocaine within the 20 minutes following. The revelation that he had sexual relations with men is new information, but there isn’t enough time to spend on it when they quickly move along to the next life event.
By taking this approach, Renzi sacrifices showing the audience why Sheen is important in the first place. Sheen’s importance doesn’t come from being the son of Martin Sheen or for being friends with Nicholas Cage — it was his excellence on the silver screen that made him endearing to audiences. His appearance as juvenile delinquent Garth Volbeck in “Ferris Buehler’s Day Off,” his first significant role, is his only individual role talked about for more than two minutes until he gets casted in “Two and a Half Men” in the second episode.
While the substance abuse and Sheen’s multiple journeys to sobriety make for a compelling story, they lose their significance when not given the proper context for their importance. People wouldn’t have been as interested in Sheen’s lifestyle if it weren’t for his artistic success. Instead of using Sheen’s iconic movies to create this context, Renzi instead uses only the timing of the movies to create a timeline for what substances Sheen was abusing and when.
Although much of Sheen’s film career is glossed over, the documentary takes the proper time to dive into both his early life living in Beverly Hills and his later family life as a father. Events such as Sheen witnessing his father’s struggle with alcohol abuse and his dedication to helping his father recover give us the context for the strained bond they share as Martin later supports Charlie through overdoses and relapses.
Renzi made the bold choice of focusing on Sheen’s decision to become sober for the sake of his children. Sheen tells the story of a time where his daughter needed a ride to an appointment and he was forced to call someone else to drive while he sat in the car. Seeing his daughter left wondering why Sheen could not drive helped him see that he needed to be sober in order to be there for his children. Throughout all the partying, drugs and fame, the devotion that he holds to his family is the one aspect of Sheen’s life that we can all relate to. The decisions he takes that make a direct impact on a member of his family are able to move the audience and showing those instances is the film’s greatest strength.
Rating: 2.5/5