I can't help but question the logic behind adapting the work of Bret Easton Ellis onto film. I mean, Mary Harron's American Psycho (2000) was a decent film, but it wasn't Ellis' American Psycho. So imagine my reluctance to watch Marek Kanievska's adaptation of Less Than Zero, a film which Ellis himself famously decried as unfaithful to his novel of the same name. The film follows a trio of estranged friends who re-unite a few months after they graduated from high school. Clay Easton is a college freshman with a bright future ahead of him. The other two friends, Blair and Julian, are not so lucky. Both of them have become hopelessly addicted to drugs. Julian is particularly messed up considering the fact that he has a $50,000 debt to his drug dealer and has been cut off from his rich family. Eventually Julian's dealer forces him into prostitution. These scenes are extremely disturbing and Robert Downey, Jr. blows them away as the doomed Julian (in fact, RDJ's performance was one of the only things about the film that Ellis liked). In fact, they save the film from mediocrity. But Less Than Zero still left me with some lingering questions. For one, I'm still unsure as to why Clay returned to Los Angeles and his friends. I think it had something to do with a business deal, but if the film explained more I missed it. Another question I had was who would pay money to sleep with a half-dead junkie like Julian? I mean, I guess everyone has their kinks. But, personally, if I had the money to get my drug dealer to provide me with prostitutes, I would want somebody who wasn't perpetually covered in his own vomit. I'm just sayin'...
7/10
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