Less Than Zero (1987)

Directed by Marek Kanievska. Starring Andrew McCarthy, Jami Gertz, Robert Downey Jr., James Spader, Nicholas Pryor, Michael Bowen, Tony Bill, Donna Mitchell. [R]

Adaptation of the ugly, cynical Bret Easton Ellis book of rich kids in L.A. living in a haze of privilege and druggy decadence, with college freshman McCarthy returning home for Christmas break and finding it difficult to recognize or relate to all the nihilistic hedonism affecting his old friends from high school, including ex-girlfriend Gertz, a cokehead model. It’s much softer and warmer than its source material, the character arcs more conventional (who would want to watch a faithful conversion?), but before blowing it with an optimistic yet unreasonable ending, the movie makes the mistake of bearing witness to behavior without studying it; the finished product is all surface area, cultural milieu and slick music cues and sanitized excess. A couple of the performances are top-notch: Robert Downey Jr. is credibly pathetic and moving as a hopeless addict at the end of his rope, and there’s a push-pull quality to James Spader’s drug dealer, a reptilian slime who’s both repellent and magnetic. But McCarthy and Gertz are such banal voids of charisma, personality and emotions, there’s nothing to hold the center—they’re as phony as robots infiltrating the ranks of mankind and trying to fit in. Those character and acting choices may have been an attempt at social commentary about the prevalent vapid, self-absorbed types Ellis observed in the City of Angels, but that doesn’t make it compelling to watch. The soundtrack doesn’t feature the Elvis Costello song Ellis named the book after, but you can briefly glimpse the Red Hot Chili Peppers in the background of a club scene performing “Fight Like a Brave”. Eagle-eyed viewers might be able to spot Brad Pitt as an extra.

46/100