One of my all time favorites.

I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

I loved the show at first, but watching the "in your face" drug use does make me uncomfortable. Especially with Arnie's relapse so graphically portrayed. With a husband struggling with addiction, it's difficult to see the drug use, so vivid in HD, in our living room. I have to give the show's creators big applause for the realistic portrayal of drugs in all walks of society. Unfortunately, sometimes it's just too realistic for me. I tend to watch television for an escape and, living with addiction, this show doesn't provide an escape. William Banks is a lifesaver for many and his story can provide hope for families struggling with addiction. I just would like to see more innuendo towards drugs and less blatant drug use. That may be unrealistic in a show of this nature, I admit. So perhaps I just need to change the channel.

This makes for uneasy viewing as one must ask should psychological or chemical addiction be turned into entertainment? This series skates close to trite clichés, but overall it does succeed in concentrating on the sufferers' problems. William Banks is 'The Cleaner'; himself a past drug addict, he now works as an interventionalist, trying to help others whose addictions have reached a point where they are no longer in control of their own lives. Banks is no paragon either as he is a very controlling individual and has swapped his chemical addiction for a spiritual relationship with God whom he talks to about his problems, and a career which gives him power over others. He is also trying to win back his family who mistrust him after fifteen years of hell, and while he has moved back in with them, he sleeps apart from his wife at the start of the series. Banks has three employees who have all had their own addictions in the past and work for him for their own reasons, he also runs a residential clinic where clients are detoxed. Background plot isn't too soapy as, if it were it, would detract from the message. Banks has teenage children who want to see him reunited with them and their mother. Problem is the job which means that he takes off at short notice day or night and so manages to alienate his family as they come a poor second when there is a client who needs help.William Banks is a hard man to like though, and he has demons of his own. You cannot fault what he does, but he is abrasive and pushy and talks to his family and employees as if he is the only one who is capable of knowing what is right. Is he in fact a messianic megalomaniac or just an ordinary man trying to save his own soul? Just a man with a calling? There are those would would equate his conversations with the almighty as evidence that the men in white coats will not be far away. However if this helps him to keep on the straight and narrow then as therapy maybe he has found his own personal answer.The ensemble cast is good, Benjamin Bratt has one of those voices you could listen to all day, and fills the William Banks role very well. His employees (played by the talented Grace Park, Esteban Powell, and Kevin Richardson) all bring depth to their parts, but, and this is a big but, the writing does not endear the characters to us. Hopefully if and when there is a season two there will be more character development, and we will come to understand and empathise with the characters. To date the series has failed spectacularly in that respect and the writers are to blame as there is real potential here.My view is that this is a worthy effort to portray the nature and effect of addiction, on the addicts themselves and their family and friends, and goes some way to showing the physical spiritual and moral degradation that people fall into. Many, it is true, are beyond help and in spite of attempts to help will eventually succumb, only a quarter of clients are cleaned which is a sobering statistic.

I began watching this show with the very first episode. I maybe would have not given it much thought, however, my husband has been in recovery from addiction for about 14 months now. He loves the show and can relate to so many of the addicts Mr. Banks helps. It is real for him. I like the show and can relate with the families of the addict. My husband and I have been married 25 years and addiction has been a major struggle in both our families for most of our lives. This show is a wonderful look at both sides of the addiction. Not only the addict but also the affects it has on the family member dealing with the addict... I will look forward to many more episodes of The Cleaner. God bless William Banks for saying, I'm not gonna take it anymore... My husband would love to meet the man behind the show. Is there a way???

William Banks was an addict himself. He could never find a means to cope with it. He almost lost his entire family, until one man helped him. Since then he has sworn his life to the same thing. He wants to help others, he wants them to be clean. He knows they are on the wrong path, a path to nowhere. William sees they are heading for disaster, so he tries to interfere before it is to late. Things may not always work out for the best, but William is likely to do all he can.Benjamin Bratt is amazing as William. He just seems to fit. William is now a man of faith but he is still in jeopardy of being broken, of falling from something back into the life he used to have. William is on edge, living everyday as though it could be his last, he wants to help, he is just not always sure he can.He would love to be able to help everyone, but people need to be willing to help themselves first.The Cleaner is one of the best T.V shows I have ever watched. It is deep, moving, powerful and dramatic. It is all you can ask for in a series and teaches you a few life lessons along the way.