
This two-part documentary covers Charlie Sheen’s life from a child growing up in Malibu, California. This documentary was directed by Andrew Renzi and while more hard-hitting questions could have been asked, I think this is a little bit of truth, redemption, self-acceptance, family, and responsibility. While this doesn’t cover every incident that happened in Charlie Sheen’s life, it does cover quite a bit of his down and up lifestyle. We first get to see Charlie (Carlos) on Super 8 videos with his brothers and how his addiction created the family to rally together but also friction amongst them. Much of his influence as a child was his dad and his roles he played in film. He learned his passion for entertaining from being on set and making videos with his brothers and friends. This is where Charlie Sheen’s three parts of his life, according to himself, began with “partying” with pot and beer. You could say without his friend, Tony Todd (not the one from Candyman), helped him during his lowest times as Charlie had helped his dad, Martin Sheen, during his low time with his own addiction issues.
The second part of his life was “partying with problems” and in enters Nicolas Cage and commentary by Jon Cryer, Sean Penn, and Chris Rock regarding his descent into mental madness and rise to higher stardom. With any famous Hollywood film star that remains in the spotlight for all the bad reasons like being a party animal with out-of-control behavior, those closest to him rally around him to stop partying. As you can imagine this doesn’t usually last on the first attempt and soon drugs and alcohol leads to more partying and prostitutes for Charlie. Insert Heidi Fleiss that clearly and rightfully so has not forgiven him and the aftermath of meeting him at Roxy. This is where I think the director could have pushed Charlie a little more on the situation because while Charlie had a little smile and smirk on his face, Heidi did not and views him as weak. I wasn’t sure if he felt any remorse for what happened to Heidi Fleiss. I’m not condoning her behavior but he’s no angel as he found himself taking acting jobs to support his drug habits. This is where he tells a story about an ice cube and was arrested as a last attempt by his family to get sober.
I would say his time on Spin City was probably the best years of his life after his second time in rehab and where he also met his now ex-wife, Denise Richards, on a film. She was a breath of fresh air with her honesty and how she helped Charlie Sheen during and after their marriage. Charlie next starred in Two and a Half Men with Jon Cryer in 2003 and led to the third phase of his life, “problems,” where he was fired from the show in 2011. What is clear is Denise and Charlie divorced for the right reasons, but they all suffered because of it especially Denise and the children. After this, Charlie married Brooke Mueller, had twin sons, and in 2009 on a vacation both thought it would be good to shoot up cocaine. This led to more excessive drug use and drinking where it interfered with his acting on Two and a Half Men where he lost his job in 2011. I would say a low point in his career is his “Winning!” tour where he spewed nonsense.
For all the highs and lows of Charlie Sheen and at one point, the highest paid actor in Hollywood, he earns far less now, but he does have one thing that he didn’t have before and that is his sobriety and calmness. Gone is the magic talk, tiger blood, testosterone using, warlock status, and winning with a W. Enter the real Charlie Sheen that turned down the role of Daniel LaRusso and is eight years sober.
I rate AKA Charlie Sheen FOUR FINGERS and ONE THUMB at 100%










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