LESS THAN ZERO
(director: Marek Kanievska; screenwriters: Harley Peyton, from the novel ”Less Than Zero” by Bret Easton Ellis; cinematographer: Edward Lachman; editors: Peter E. Berger, Richard Hornung; music: Rick Rubin; cast: Andrew McCarthy (Clay), Jami Gertz (Blair), Robert Downey Jr. (Julian), James Spader (Rip), Bradford Easton (Tony Bill), Benjamin Wells (Nicholas Pryor), Donna Mitchell (Elaine Easton), Michael Bowen (Hop), Sarah Buxton (Markie), Lisanne Falk (Patti), Robert Wells (Michael Greene); Runtime: 96; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Jon Avnet, Jordan Kerner; 20th Century-Fox; 2024)
“A shallow film.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
The novel ”Less Than Zero” by Bret Easton Ellis was good, the film by English director Marek Kanievska (“Where Money Is”/”Another Country”) was not good.
Harley Peyton’s upbeat screenplay keeps the depressing film, at least, not boring.
The Simon and Garfunkel song “A Hazy Shade of Winter” made for a good listen.
It’s a rancid story about cynical, snobby and anxious very rich Gen X teens mulling over conformity and money issues. It’s set during the L.A. Christmas season, where everyone seems to be around fake Christmas trees.
It costars Andrew McCarthy, Jami Gertz and Robert Downey Jr. as alienated and affluent L.A. hipsters, who are restless and lead empty lives.
The bi-sexual Clay (Andrew McCarthy) is a college freshman who goes back home to Beverly Hills for his Christmas break from an Ivy League school. He finds his former high school girlfriend Blair (Jami Gertz) has become a top fashion model saddled with a cocaine habit. Meanwhile his best high school friend Julian (Robert Downey Jr.) is a free basing male prostitute, with herpes, who within a year lost the recording studio his wealthy father gifted him upon graduation.
The trio go clubbing and partying, living it up among their fellow hipsters.
Clay and Blair get together again, after she was balling Julian. They’re not bashful about making it on the freeway. When the lovebirds are not screwing, their time is spent trying to save Julian from his evil drug dealer (James Spader), who he owes $50,000. Dad offers tough love but won’t give Julian the cash.
The downbeat soap opera story paints a harrowing depiction of cocaine addiction, and warns about the dangers of addiction. It’s filmed with bright lights, a glossy look, and offers an unmerited happy ending, hiding its bleakness in stylish rom/com visuals of joy. What results is a shallow film that’s directed by a Brit who probably had no business directing a film about the nihilist Southern California scene he’s not familiar with.
REVIEWED ON 8/16/2024 GRADE: C
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