Being Flynn

Being Flynn is a 2012 American drama film written and directed by Paul Weitz and starring Robert De Niro, Julianne Moore and Paul Dano, released in select theatres in the United States on March 2, 2012. It is based on Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, a 2004 memoir by Nick Flynn. Plot Nick Flynn is an aspiring writer who works at a homeless shelter where his estranged father Jonathan stays. Jonathan, an alcoholic ex-con and self-proclaimed "master storyteller", left Nick's mother Jody years earlier to raise Nick on her own. She eventually died by suicide, for which Nick feels responsible. Jonathan gets into fights with the others, and Nick is tempted to throw him out. Nick and Jonathan get into an intense argument, during which Jonathan tells Nick that they are the same. The stress of seeing his father again drives Nick to drink heavily and abuse drugs, costing him his relationship with his girlfriend and coworker, Denise. Jonathan eventually gets kicked out of the shelter, with Nick voting with the staff for his removal. Nick tries to numb the guilt by smoking crack, but it only intensifies his pain, and he realizes that he has a problem. He enters a rehabilitation program, and makes amends with Denise.