The setting of this film is in Chicago of 1993. James Frey is 23 years old and he is a lost soul stuck in a spiral of auto-destruction. He is addicted to drugs and alcohol. After a night of partying, James accidentally falls off the balcony of the house where he was staying. He breaks his nose and he awakens from his high hours later. He finds himself on an airplane headed to Minnesota? He is to be admitted to the Hazelden Foundation. This is a rehab center for addicts. James is reluctant to take any steps to address his addictions. In the center, he meets other patients in treatment. Leonard is a foul-mouthed former member of the mob. John is deranged with obsessions and he is unable to contain his primary impulses. Roy has bipolar disorder with religious delirium. Miles is a clarinet player and former judge who turned on his roommate. The rules of the center prevent all contact between men and women by having separated treatment in different pavilions of the center. Despite these barriers, James meets Lilly.
The content of this film is mature and disturbing. The horrifying life of a drug addict is depicted and the difficulty of getting clean. James smokes crack, chugs liquor, chains smokes and dances in poop. He is filmed completely nude from all sides and angles. He also poops nude. John is a gay character and he is also naked. He plays out the worst of homophobic stereotypes including sexually preying on another man in the shower. There is also a suicide and near-death experience. Angry destruction, painful/bloody medical procedure, punching and more. Characters conversations are about the appeal of the highs. There is lots of strong language and prostitution is also shown. 1 1/2* (I didn’t like this movie and I didn’t get very far in viewing)
113 min, Drama directed and written by Sam Taylor-Johnson and also written by James Frey and Aaron Taylor-Johnson with Billy Bob Thornton, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Odessa Young, Giovanni Ribisi, Juliette Lewis, Dash Mihok, Charles Parnell, Ryan Hurst, David Dastmalchian, Tom Amandes, Charlie Hunnam, Andy Mackenzie, Eugene Byrd, Andy Buckley.
Note: Goodreads gives the book 3.65* out of 5* with 218,004 ratings and 11,623 reviews, Imdb 6.2 out of 10 with 1346 reviews, Roger Ebert 1 1/2* Matt Zoller Seitz, Rotten Tomatoes 27% with 48 critics 47% with 61 user ratings, Amazon 4.3* out of 5* with 2637 customer ratings, The Guardian 2* out of 5* Cath Clarke, Common Sense Media Tara McNamara, age 17+, 3* positive messages, 1*role models, 4* violence, 5*sex, 5*language, 0* consumerism, 4* drinking drugs & smoking.
Special Note: This film is based on the book written by James Frey. In 2006, James was made to publicly admit that the book was not a memoir but fiction. Oprah Winfrey was one of his biggest supporters at this time. She redacted her support and publicly shamed him for passing the lie as truth and profiting from the sales. Oprah announced his deceit on an episode dated 26 January 2006 of The Oprah Winfrey Show. The director, Sam Taylor-Johnson is married to cast member Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Originally, Warner Bros planned on making the film adaptation of the book with Orlando Bloom and Josh Hartnett in mind.
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