Ben Affleck knows you probably think hes a mess. But, with a little bit of honesty, hes hoping to change that.

Over the last few years, the Oscar winner has faced a stretch of unsavory headlines revolving around his divorce from Jennifer Garner , his run as Batman (see: the Sad Affleck meme ) and a Me Too scandal . Hes been in and out of rehab for alcohol addiction and suffered a relapse last October that was, unfortunately, caught on camera.

Interestingly enough, Afflecks new film, The Way Back , provides a nice avenue for the actor to ingratiate himself with audiences. In the film, Jack Cunningham (Affleck) is a high school basketball star turned construction worker who is soon hired by his former school to coach a ragtag team of teens. Like Affleck, Cunningham is an alcoholic who is separated from a woman (Janina Gavankar ) who still deeply cares for him but cant stay in their marriage any longer. He drinks in solitude from morning to night, attempting to hide his destructive nature and tremendous anguish.

The Way Back gives Affleck who went directly from rehab to set the opportunity to neatly address his personal struggles at a time when his likability factor is in need of a boost. In effect, his team turned its PR strategy all the way up during the media tour, proving a comeback is still very much an option for a sincere white man of a certain standing in Hollywood.

Pulling people into the subject matter of the movie is very smart, iHeartRadio host and former publicist Rob Shuter, who represented Jennifer Lopez during her 2004 split from Affleck, told HuffPost. Ben isnt just acting in this film, he is confronting his demons. The only way to promote a movie like this and seem genuine is to tell the whole truth, which is exactly what he is doing.