Stephen Elliott a troubled writer is struggling with his past and decides to write about a missing wife after following the murder trial of her husband.
This film gets very strange and off the wall to be brutally honest I felt as though it totally lost the plot and points it was trying to make about a quarter of the way through it was just too much of well nothing really. With needless sex scenes that then didn't really fit in with anything else, getting the film a 18 rating in the UK.
Stephen Elliott did not have a very good childhood and has used this to then write a book about how badly his late father used to treat him. Only problem with that is when he is doing a launch for the release his father who is still alive turns up and that causes everything to fall apart. Becoming obsessed with the murder trial and then recalling false memories I from his childhood and younger years. Battling with drug abuse and suicide all mashed up together as he attempts to reconnect with his father when he admits his mistakes. Well, when they both do really as neither were perfect but some of the finer details were just a little bit lost in the writing of the book, the drug taking and Stephen not really remembering trying to kill himself.
It was not a very easy film to watch as the story wasn't really very engaging and pretty much all over the place with the flashbacks. It is probably one of the better performances I have seen from James Franco in recent years but still nothing to get excited about. Ed Harris wasn't used anywhere near enough as let's face it he really could have saved more of the scenes in this one. Christian Slater as the man on trial is hardly in the film which was rather disappointing, he only had a couple of scenes. Obviously he was engaging in those scenes but I wanted more of his character as that part was interesting.
I certainly will not find myself watching this one again as I didn't enjoy it at all. It was just a bit too heavy at times and I still don't really understand the point of the rather graphic sex scenes as felt it offered nothing or very little to the overall story. The only thing I will actually give it credit for it thinking about memories and what is now actually real, have you remembered everything correctly or is what you remember now something that you actually made up but now feels like a memory? Which is a pretty deep thing to really focus on and think about. Just a shame too many other things happened within the film for that to be as powerful as it could and should have been.
Overall I wouldn't really recommend this one as I didn't feel it offered enough despite the impressive cast choices for the film.
*This film had an original title of The Adderall Diaries*
