Directed by: Marek Kanievska
Starring: Andrew McCarthy, Robert Downey Jr., Jami Gertz, Nicholas Pryor, Tony Bill, James Spader, Michael Bowen, james Spader
Less Than Zero rings absolutely, mercilessly true. I can relate in every respect to Clay (McCarthy), an Ivy League college freshman who returns to Southern California to find his best friend and girlfriend are not only sleeping together, but hooked on drugs. People Clay loves and cares for are addicted and he can only do what he can to help them. Blair (Gertz) is the girlfriend who can at least pull herself together to understand Julian (Downey) is spiraling out of control. Julian is into the local drug dealer Rip (Spader) for $50,000. He can't pay the money back, so Rip employs him as a prostitute for his male friends. Julian is dehumanized, promises to stay clean, but cannot free himself from the demon of drugs. Less Than Zero depicts Julian's downfall in a real, harrowing way. Whether you're a user, a bystander, or a loved one, you identify with these people.
McCarthy and Downey Jr. (especially Downey Jr.) have had well-documented drug and alcohol addictions. McCarthy described how he was mostly hung over during filming of St. Elmo's Fire and other films. Downey Jr. spent time in jail before getting clean and reinventing himself as the biggest box office star in the world. Most do not pull themselves out of such hell. Loved ones try to exert power over a situation in which they have no real power. Trying to control someone else's addiction is like trying to restrain the bulls of Pamplona with bear hugs. You put in every ounce of effort you can, but you just get run over. Clay tries to raise the money to pay off Rip, but wisely asks Julian, "What then?" Julian doesn't have an answer. Just because the debt is paid doesn't mean Julian is done with drugs. He just gets another chance to dig himself into another hole.
Clay, Julian, and Blair are rich young adults from Beverly Hills who live in the world of superficial glamour and glitz. Everyone seems to be having a good time in their own vacuous way. They think cocaine will help enhance the experience. It doesn't. Julian continues to put himself and his loved ones in deeper and deeper levels of danger. He makes empty promises to stay clean, goes through the hell of detox, and there is no doubt he means every one of those promises....until he encounters the drug again. He tells Rip he is quitting for good "this time". Even Rip has heard this bullshit before. "Try and make an effort," he tells Julian, "to at least come up with a better excuse to quit. I've heard all of this before," I'm sure Clay, Blair, and Julian's family have all said the same thing. I would think your dealer is the last person you want to inform that you are quitting drugs. Rip is played with cold efficiency by Spader, who for a drug dealer is rather patient as the probability of Julian actually paying him back dims. "Julian is the problem, not me," he tells Clay, as if this somehow absolves him.
The performances here are all strong, while Robert Downey Jr. immerses himself into this world so much that we fear for his safety. Could a lot of this performance have been drawn from real life? Probably yes. He looks and sounds physically and mentally exhausted. How long can he keep this up before his body says "no more'? I have witnessed this in members of my own family, which is why Less Than Zero hits home so strongly. McCarthy is the moral center. In the book by Bret Easton Ellis on which this movie is based, Clay is a recreational user himself, but thankfully screenwriter Harley Peyton makes Clay a straight arrow. It wouldn't be credible for Clay to try and help Julian get clean if he had issues himself.
Director Kanievska directed music videos before this movie and the lighting, sounds, and décor all suggest a world of exterior glamour that masks inner pain. The characters inhabit this world, but are almost outsiders to it themselves. The drugs keep them out of touch with reality. They can't enjoy if they are numb and high all the time. Reading Roger Ebert's review of this film, he uses George Carlin's famous quote when asked what cocaine made him feel like. He quipped, "It makes you feel like having some more cocaine." Julian (and Blair to a certain extent) know this all too well. It ends tragically for at least one of them, while the rest have to pick up the pieces. Less Than Zero is perceptive, tragic, and knowing. We can only watch the trainwreck as it unfolds. We want to help, but it's useless. Kind of like real life.
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