The Lost Weekend

The Lost Weekend, takes its characters as seriously as it takes its plot. The runtime earns every minute, with nothing here that feels like padding. An 8/10 rating says what the writing already makes obvious: this one works. Ray Milland leads a cast that never overplays its hand. Available now — press play and find out why people keep recommending it.

The Lost Weekend arrived without much fanfare and built its audience the hard way — through word of mouth. The Lost Weekend trusts its audience to sit with discomfort instead of resolving it too quickly. Longtime alcoholic Don Birnam has been sober for ten days and appears to be over the worst... But his craving has just become more insidious. Evading a country weekend planned by his brother and girlfriend, he begins a four-day bender that just might be his last – one way or another. Ray Milland and Jane Wyman lead a cast doing genuinely serious work here. It hit screens in 1945. The writing trusts the audience to sit with ambiguity rather than wrapping everything up in a tidy conclusion — it is the approach that separates good drama from great. It rarely drops the ball, and when it does, it recovers fast.

The Lost Weekend is what you recommend to people who say they do not really watch much. If you have run out of similar titles to watch, this is a strong next pick. Short enough to finish in one sitting, substantial enough to feel satisfying. Ray Milland's work here is the kind that gets referenced in career retrospectives. It makes everything else feel thin by comparison.

The Lost Weekend was released in 1945, directed by Billy Wilder. The full 101-minute film is available to watch now. Find exactly where it's streaming below, and TV Butler Pro makes it effortless to track your progress as you go. Just search the name, and Butler finds it instantly, tells you which service has it, and remembers exactly where you left off.