Review of Affluenza (2014) by Thomas W — 23 Aug 2014

Affluenza takes place in the high dollar suburbs of NYC in a gilded age and in an immediate past not so long ago as the film's action is set in the pre-recession world as the characters all live a life of excess and none of them know moderation or the meaning of the world "no".

The film's primary focus is upon working-class Fisher MIler (Ben Rosenfeld - Teenage) and how he decides to live his life one summer with his affluent relatives near the city and learn "all about life" in the process.

Fisher is actually a working-class photographer who has decided it would be more beneficial to learn how to mingle and party with the rich than it would be to take an internship or learn how to work. Fisher is pretty vapid and apparently expects life to be carefree .

.. so he fits in splendidly with his cousins and their closest friends. He appears to have a slight crush on his pretty cousin Kate (Nicola Peltz - The Last Airbender) and he believes he is "important" simply because he knows some rich people -- who all happen to be horribly materialistic, shallow and callous.

Steve Guttenberg (Police Academy) plays Fisher's uncle who appears to be the lone character who might understand what a stock market crash might mean to them. The crash won't make any of them better people .

.. it'll just make them a little poorer and give them yet something else to complain about. They know practically nothing and care even less -- they are most fortunate that affluenza isn't lethal.