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The Adderall Diaries stars James Franco as Stephen Elliott, a writer stymied by past success, writers block, substance abuse, relationship problems and a serious set of father issues, whose cracked-out chronicle of a bizarre murder trial amounts to less than the sum of its parts.
Not long into the 2007 trial of programmer Hans Reiser, accused of murdering his wife, the defendant’s friend Sean Sturgeon obliquely confessed to several murders (though not the murder of Reiser’s wife). Elliott, caught up in the film-ready twist and his tenuous connection to Sturgeon (they share a BDSM social circle), makes a gonzo record of the proceedings. The result is a scattered, self-indulgent romp through the mind of a depressive narcissist obsessed with his insecurities and childhood traumas.
However, unless I wasn’t paying too much attention, the trailer didn’t get a lot of that clear at all, so I’m not sure what I’d make of the full film, which is written and directed by Pamela Romanowsky – based on the memoir of Stephen Elliott, and also stars Amber Heard, Christian Slater, Ed Harris, Wilmer Valderrama and Cynthia Nixon.
The Adderall Diaries is released in the UK on April 22nd.
Check out the trailer below and click on the above image for the full-size version.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.