James Franco really is spreading himself too thin. Dabbling in literature, art installations, and film producing and directing, Franco’s day job as an actor is an afterthought.
In “The Adderall Diaries,” the multi-tasker has the lead role, but barely looks engaged by the lurid proceedings. Even the movie’s occasional S&M scenes don’t light a fire under his performance.
The movie is adapted from a memoir by Stephen Elliott, although Elliott has distanced himself from the film version. Franco plays the writer at a precipitous moment in his career.
Elliott has won some success as an author, and his agent (Cynthia Nixon) has a couple of book deals lined up. But he’s crushed by writer’s block. He may also have a drug problem, and he’s definitely having a hard time growing out a beard.
Meanwhile, his estranged father (Ed Harris) crashes one of Stephen’s book readings. Dear old dad points out that the way he was portrayed as an abuser in his son’s memoir wasn’t entirely accurate.
Instead of writing fiction, Elliott is distracted by a murder trial. A father (Christian Slater) is accused of killing his wife; Elliott sees the story as a chance to write a true-crime classic — it’ll be his “In Cold Blood,” he swears.
We find out so little about this case that we assume Elliott loses interest. He’s too busy dating a New York Times reporter (Amber Heard, in a cavegirl wig) and introducing her to his extreme taste in sex.
“The Adderall Diaries” is adapted and directed by Pamela Romanowsky, with Franco producing. With the exception of interesting performances by Harris and Slater, it is dumb on pretty much every level, from Elliott’s expensively bohemian apartment to the incoherent story about the murder trial.
So murky is the film’s purpose that it’s only vaguely suggested why Elliott is drawn to the murder trial (something to do with understanding his father?). Mostly he seems limply intrigued by the possibility of getting a best-seller out of it.
Toward the end, the blockage is removed and Elliott begins to write again; we see some of his words on the screen. I don’t know whether the sentences we see are actually the work of Stephen Elliott or the screenwriter, but they are so banal they should be enshrined on a greeting card. No wonder he gets a book deal right away.
“The Adderall Diaries” 1 star
A dumb adaptation of Stephen Elliott’s memoir about (among other things) writer’s block, a murder trial, and S&M sex. James Franco looks stupefied in the lead role, and the film’s point remains murky throughout. With Ed Harris, Amber Heard.
Rating: R, for language, subject matter
Showing: Varsity theater
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