Review of Permanent Midnight (1998) by Dave R — 10 May 2010

A story about real-life screenwriter and his struggles with substance abuse and how he lost everything. not a remarkably original premise but kind of interesting to see the underbelly of hollywood. stiller gives a good, if unusual, performance - I don't think he's played a drug addict before or since. however the overall feel of the movie seems tainted by the heroin "mystique" that so many movies of the 90s pay homage to.

the mystique of heroin in and of itself is not enough to carry a movie really and that's what hurts the film in my eyes - it relies too much on that "coolness" heroin (which i've never bought into); it also seems to follow that that pattern that became cliche in the 90s: celebrities who have it all then get hooked on drugs and then get clean and then come the media interviews talking about how terrible it was for them, and how high they were one time when... blah blah blah. i've never had much sympathy for those celebrity types...