Based on the same titled book by Elizabeth Wurtzel, this picture was filmed in 2000 and languished on the shelves at Miramax until the company dumped it on cable in March. The delay has been credited to a number of reasons from the unlikable nature of the central character to writer Elizabeth Wurtzel's offensive comments about 9/11 to the fact that Wurtzel stated she felt the movie was "horrible."
The film is certainly not horrible. Wurtzel is played by Christina Ricci (THE OPPOSITE OF SEX). The story chronicles Wurtzel’s acceptance into Harvard, her success as a music reviewer and journalist, her decent into drugs and her personal destruction at the hands of severe depression/ bi-polar disease. Noah (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM) is her first fling, who introduces her to drugs. Her roommate Ruby (Michelle Williams, THE STATION AGENT) admires her, but soon cannot handle her mood swings. Wurtzel later starts a relationship with the conservative, but caring Rafe (Jason Biggs, AMERICAN PIE).
Wurtzel is caught in between the tumultuous relationship of her divorced parents, played by Jessica Lange (BLUE SKY) and Nicholas Campbell (CINDERELLA MAN). Wurtzel is often unfair to her mother and too forgiving to her absent father. She is also very hostile to her psychiatrist Dr. Sterling (Anne Heche, BIRTH).
The portrayal of depression is brutal and unforgiving. It just shows how destructive the disease is to the person suffering from it and the people around them. The film does drag in sections and may have worked actually better with more reflective voice-over from the Wurtzel character. She is not sympathetic at all, but the film is honest about the disease and never sugarcoats it.
Ricci is good, but not great. Lange is good, but her New York-Jewish accent comes and goes too often. In the end, the film does capture the maniac mind of a depressed/ bi-polar person. The film deserved more than a dumping on Starz. It’s a solid drama worth checking out. Note: Much has been made on the Internet of this film featuring Ricci’s first nude scene. Though there are sex scenes in the film, the nudity does not come in them. It’s in a scene early on, which is really unnecessary and actually kind of creepy.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
