I think Ben Stiller is typecast; I've only seen him play quirky Jewish guys in comedies. He's quite good at that (because that's basically what he is), but I was very interested to see him in a serious role, so I rented this film. Unfortunately, the film is unevenly paced and rather humdrum.
The film's pace is really off, because it tries to cram at least a year and a half's worth of events into 80 minutes. The story is told in segments, meaning the film jumps around a lot; Jerry (Stiller) switches dealers and loses friends out of the blue, but more importantly, the entire period between when he is in rehab and when the film begins is alluded to but is noticeably absent (how and why DID he come to that "fateful" fast food job?). The film focuses mainly on the beginning of Jerry's downfall due to addiction, but never tells the whole story (he never seems to hit addiction's true rock bottom). The segway between these sequences - Jerry telling another ex-addict more of his "story", should've been done away with; its totally unnecessary and serves only to lead to an ending that makes little sense, even within the context of the segways.
Besides all the missing sequences leaving gaping and occasionally confusing holes in the story, the story left isn't terribly interesting. The "drugs cause successful man to become a desperate shadow of his former self" plot is second only to the "Hollywood doesn't give a damn about anyone" subplot in its simplicity. It's been done before, and if it hasn't, it sure seems like it has, including the "telling the story to another sympathetic ex-addict" aspect. Perhaps including some of the aforementioned missing segments would have given the story the extra kick it needed.
The story is the only problem with the film, the performances are excellent. Stiller is just as good in a dramatic role (although, somewhat ironically, his character is a quirky Jewish addict), and Elizabeth Hurley gives an excellent supporting performance as Jerry's marriage-of-convenience-wife who actually cares about him, but gets the fall-back from his addiction instead (her response to these incidents is only hinted at, and should have been extended on). Janeane Garofalo is another great supporting character (Jerry's agent) that deserved more screen time. Besides sporting great performances, there are a few inspired scenes, though due to the story's disjointed order, they feel just as "dropped in" as the rest of the story's major developments.
There's nothing outright wrong with the film, it's just missing too much. If the film had run for the length of a regular film it probably would've filled in enough of the holes that it'd work better.
The film's pace is really off, because it tries to cram at least a year and a half's worth of events into 80 minutes. The story is told in segments, meaning the film jumps around a lot; Jerry (Stiller) switches dealers and loses friends out of the blue, but more importantly, the entire period between when he is in rehab and when the film begins is alluded to but is noticeably absent (how and why DID he come to that "fateful" fast food job?). The film focuses mainly on the beginning of Jerry's downfall due to addiction, but never tells the whole story (he never seems to hit addiction's true rock bottom). The segway between these sequences - Jerry telling another ex-addict more of his "story", should've been done away with; its totally unnecessary and serves only to lead to an ending that makes little sense, even within the context of the segways.
Besides all the missing sequences leaving gaping and occasionally confusing holes in the story, the story left isn't terribly interesting. The "drugs cause successful man to become a desperate shadow of his former self" plot is second only to the "Hollywood doesn't give a damn about anyone" subplot in its simplicity. It's been done before, and if it hasn't, it sure seems like it has, including the "telling the story to another sympathetic ex-addict" aspect. Perhaps including some of the aforementioned missing segments would have given the story the extra kick it needed.
The story is the only problem with the film, the performances are excellent. Stiller is just as good in a dramatic role (although, somewhat ironically, his character is a quirky Jewish addict), and Elizabeth Hurley gives an excellent supporting performance as Jerry's marriage-of-convenience-wife who actually cares about him, but gets the fall-back from his addiction instead (her response to these incidents is only hinted at, and should have been extended on). Janeane Garofalo is another great supporting character (Jerry's agent) that deserved more screen time. Besides sporting great performances, there are a few inspired scenes, though due to the story's disjointed order, they feel just as "dropped in" as the rest of the story's major developments.
There's nothing outright wrong with the film, it's just missing too much. If the film had run for the length of a regular film it probably would've filled in enough of the holes that it'd work better.