April 2, 1999
Being a writer for the TV show Alf would drive me to take drugs, too.
Based on the book of the same name, Permanent Midnight is the story of TV writer Jerry Stahl and his struggle with heroin addiction. And what a struggle it is. He starts out filching his roomates Percodan, is introduced to Heroin through a one-night stand with a German Fraulein who screams “I am fucking a Jew!” during sex, then smokes crack in an empty office building and throws himself against the glass windows, fifty stories above ground. This is all way before he hits bottom…
The story is told through flashbacks by a clean Jerry to his new love interest Kitty, also a recovering junkie. Gripping, haunting, yada yada yada. What really impressed me about this film was not only the fact that they didn’t candy coat drug addiction, but that they didn’t show anything fun about it at all. This is not another Trainspotting. Here, not one postive thing is shown about drug use. I am not sure if that is good or bad…
Elizabeth Hurley is sufficient as his British green card wife. Of course, Janeane Garofalo makes an appearance as a smitten agent. There’s also a special appearance by the guy who played Zed in Pulp Fiction (Forever, he will be known only as this) as the drug dealer who hangs around the methadone clinic to sell his wares.
Rating – R
Runtime – 88 minutes
Genre – Book Adaptation, Memoir
Director(s) – David Veloz
Writer(s) – Jerry Stahl, David Veloz
Actor(s) – Ben Stiller, Maria Bello, Elizabeth Hurley, Owen Wilson, Janeane Garofalo
BOB Rating – Four BOBs
Favorite Quote – "Things are way worse than they seem..." - Jerry Stahl (Ben Stiller)