Less Than Zero

[dchan]

I recently watched this film on the Fox Movie Channel, which generally shows films uncut from their theatrical version. IMDB profileWikipedia entryIt's a pretty good movie IMO, but it has tons of detractors who hate it simply because it departed so much from the popular book that it was based off of. For me, that reasoning is pure bullshit because it ignores the fact that a book and a movie are different from each other, and things that work for one don't necessarily work for the other. For me, Less Than Zero isn't a great film, but it works for what it is.I loved it immediately when I first came upon it because of its style: it's pure upper class 80's chic set in LA. The movie is essentially split into two halves. The first half of the movie is a very cheerful as it goes from party to party, and it features a ton of 80's pop and rock songs at these parties; you get almost no sense of the serious shit that's about to go down later on. The serious shit happens in the second half, and the mood is much more despondent and maudlin.I especially loved the second half: almost all of it's done at night. There are many scenes to choose from: the pool scene featuring a broken down Julian (Robert Downey Jr.) is just gorgeous, from the hauntingly beautiful soundtrack to the lighting and visuals from the pool it self; the search scenes where Julian's best friends (Andrew McCarthy and Jamie Gertz) are looking for him are great as well because you get to see tons of boutiques and stores lit up with neon in true 80's style; the shots of Jami Gertz's character's loft apartment are a sight to behold, in daytime and at night. For some reason, my best childhood memories, whether real or imagined, followed the visuals of those nighttime scenes. It probably explains why I'm a night person.But these scenes all add their own allure to this half of the movie because everything is now about Julian's rapid and tragic downfall. All in all, I must say that as much as I love this movie, I can understand why the detractors who loved the book hated this movie. Despite the deeply noirish intentions of the director, the movie is very much a superficial look at the 80's upper class drug scenes where it's slmost all style and rarely anything deeper than that. From what I've heard, the book is an absolute classic that truly delves into the subject. Yes, (SPOILERS the rest of this paragraph!!!!) Julian does die at the end, but his tragic downfall only truly came about in a couple of days, and it never really seemed that bad compared to stories you hear of other junkies just wasting away in their own filth. Perhaps Julian's downfall would have seemed more tragic had his loan shark been played by someone thougher than James Spader (whose performance as an asshole here was very good, but he's still looks like Steph from Pretty in Pink); getting Julian to become your gay prostitute was pretty bad, but it could have been a lot worse. It's still a pretty good movie for what it was. McCarthy's and Gertz's performances here were pretty wooden and uninspired. Spader's performance was very good, but he's not bred to play tough guys. But Downey Jr.'s performance in this movie was one for the books: simply amazing acting in his gradual turn from a seemingly happy-go-lucky partier to a burnt-out junkie, and scarily reminiscent of his real life's story. To me, the critics who hate Miami Vice because they claim it's all style could have also hated this movie based on the same claim; this movie goes deeper than that largely because of Downey's performance. Of course, Vice goes deeper in many more ways than simply acting.

[sredd]

Dchan, nice observations. It's a good movie and a good example of 80's filmmaking.I have the soundtrack (on cassette tape!).

[Stinger390X]

Good movie, nice choice. I saw it many years ago. It was a mark of the eighties as I was there! I lived it. (younger readers take note!) the clothes the hair etc were perfect as well as the tunes.Too bad Downey lived it almost for real shortly after making it. I remember hearing about all his drug charges and court appearances and thought..."what a waste"I had just seen him in Chaplin and I figured that movie was brilliant and a gift to Downey to get his s**t together.However I really like what he has done recently. Brilliant actor. Glad he is off the drugs.

[sredd]

I picked it up in Target a few weeks ago for five bucks, good deal.

[Dadrian]

nice to see sredd on .ws!

[sredd]

Thanks, I think I'll be here from this point on; the situation overon .org and the way F-Man has been treated is pathetic.

[ricodubs]

Good movie' date=' nice choice. I saw it many years ago. It was a mark of the eighties as I was there! I lived it. (younger readers take note!) the clothes the hair etc were perfect as well as the tunes.Too bad Downey lived it almost for real shortly after making it. I remember hearing about all his drug charges and court appearances and thought..."what a waste"I had just seen him in Chaplin and I figured that movie was brilliant and a gift to Downey to get his s**t together.However I really like what he has done recently. Brilliant actor. Glad he is off the drugs.[/quote']y\Always liked this movie. Maybe one of the best of the brat pack movies made representing the 80's. Great look, nice music, sort of sexy, until the last half.

[crocketsgrl]

First, it's so good to see you here, Shredd! Now it's nice Dchan that you brought up this movie. It's been a long time favorite 80's movie for me though never read the book. You review was great. I always have loved Robert Downey Jr.'s acting. But the sad thing to this movie is it mirrors Downey's real life with his drug struggle. I hate to say it but due to the movie and how it mirrored Downey's life, not sure how he's doing now, but I cried at the end. I recorded it on VHS last year, it's up there with St. Elmos Fire, Breakfast Club and so on. Seeing the dress, hair and colors were so 80's, even all the glass and I believe it had a scene with glass boxed window like Vice. Thanks again for this topic. Sue

[sredd]

crocketsgrl, thanks. It's good to see you also.

[gstien]

Jami Gertz wasn't bad in it either.

[sredd]

[dchan]

First' date=' it's so good to see you here, Shredd! Now it's nice Dchan that you brought up this movie. It's been a long time favorite 80's movie for me though never read the book. You review was great. I always have loved Robert Downey Jr.'s acting. But the sad thing to this movie is it mirrors Downey's real life with his drug struggle. I hate to say it but due to the movie and how it mirrored Downey's life, not sure how he's doing now, but I cried at the end. I recorded it on VHS last year, it's up there with St. Elmos Fire, Breakfast Club and so on. Seeing the dress, hair and colors were so 80's, even all the glass and I believe it had a scene with glass boxed window like Vice. Thanks again for this topic. Sue[/quote']Thanks, crocketsgrl, for the kind words.As I said, it's not a great movie, per se. The acting by Gertz and McCarthy is wooden, and some of the writing isn't up to snuff. The ending is kind of abrupt too.But if anybody asked me to show one thing that represented my views of the 80's was, I would show them this movie, barely nudging out Miami Vice. Why? It had all of the bad 80's cliche's. The first half of the movie featured wild 'excess' parties that featured all the pop hits of the day and rich kids snorting coke left and right; beautiful studio apartments designed in that delicious 80's decor and lighting; great or awful 80's fashion, depending on how you feel about it. The young people were rich as hell, and they were going to spend that wealth goddammit, no matter how 'poor' their tastes were. This was the optimism of the 80's. The second half featured the despondency of the 80's. What happened when all the money ran out while you were still hooked on coke What happened when the loan shark made you pay off the loans, somehow. What happened when the loan shark went after your friends to give you the message he wants his money back. What happened when your coke habit finally catches up to you healthwise when you try to quit cold-turkey. But even in this despondency, there is beauty and hope. The neon lights in the storefronts at night are absolutely gorgeous. Even when Gertz's character's studio apartment was destroyed, it still looked awesome. And even as Downey's going through tough times, everybody else is still partying. My favorite scene is the one when we see Downey, downtrodden, sitting by McCarthy's poolside. It's nighttime, the pool is lit-up blue, and the poolhouse walls catch some of the wavy reflections from the pool. When McCarthy goes over to Downey, Thomas Newman's gorgeous score (and I love his score for "Scent of a Woman") kicks in to totally complement the cool. serene, yet tense atmosphere

[agent 47]

I just found this thread, didn't know we had a Less Than Zero thread!! This is one of my most favorite movies, I missed the eighties and listen to a ton of music from the eighties and watch eighties movies, this is one of the best, never read the book, but I think this is one of my top five favorite films!

[MrsEvanFreed]

Great film, one of my faves from that Brat Pack era.Robert Downey Jr. was Oscar worthy, should've received a nom for Supporting Actor. The scene when they discover that Julian has overdosed and died always gets me. Film also had a great soundtrack.