Better Living Through Chemistry

The ironic title riffs on a DuPont advertising slogan—“Better Things for Better Living Through Chemistry”—which was used to promote the company from 1935 to 1982. In this dark comedy, it refers to a pill-popping pharmacist who misuses prescription drugs. Doug Varney (Sam Rockwell) is a straight-laced, small-town druggist whose life catapults out of control after delivering medication to the home of enticing Elizabeth Roberts (Olivia Wilde), the tipsy, negligee-clad trophy wife of a traveling executive (Ray Liotta). Dominated by his exercise-obsessed wife, Kara (Michelle Monaghan), and unable to handle their troubled, insolent 12-year-old son, Ethan (Harrison Holzer), Doug has just taken over control of Bishop's Pharmacy, previously owned by his condescending father-in-law, Walter Bishop (Ken Howard). Seduced by uninhibited Elizabeth, Doug quickly learns about mixing medications. While the discovery that he can “get high on his own supply” ultimately liberates Doug's sex life, it also inevitably leads to an investigation by a bumbling DEA official (Norbert Leo Butz). Written and directed by Geoff Moore and David Posamentier, this is an alternately edgy and formulaic romp that suffers from syrupy, self-referential narration by Jane Fonda (“I know a thing or two about working out”). Optional. (S. Granger)