Clay, an eighteen-year-old freshman, comes back from his first term at a college in New Hampshire to spend his Christmas vacation with his broken-up wealthy family in Los Angeles. His former girlfriend, Blair, is now involved with his ex-best-friend, Julian. She warns Clay that Julian needs help: he is using a lot of cocaine and has huge debts. What follows is a look at the youth culture of wealthy post adolescents in Beverly Hills with a strong anti-drug message. Apart from the setting and the names, the film has very little to do with Bret Easton Ellis’s book by the same title on which it was based. –IMDb
a very great & sad movie, but sadly also kind of patchy in some parts - the acting of Downey was just outstanding..!
Sadly, the film is too glossy and Hollywood in its portrayal of the exhausted theme that is the downwards spiral of a drug addict. There is so much grit and disturbance that is missing from the film that would have made it truly a stand-out, but Robert Downey Jr. is simply epic (but isn't he always?).
