Prozac Nation (2003)

The greatest movie ever!

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Really Surprised!

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Lizzie Wurtzel is a strange loner in high school living with her divorced mother (Jessica Lange). She starts her studies in Harvard as a writer. Ruby (Michelle Williams) is her new roommate. She loses her virginity to Noah (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and throws a party for the occasion. She becomes promiscuous with sex and drugs. In 1985, her writing even gets into Rolling Stone magazine. The return of his father (Nicholas Campbell) disturbs her. She falls into obsessions, drug addictions and continues her lifelong depression. Her friends bring her to therapist Dr. Sterling (Anne Heche). She cheats with Ruby's boyfriend. She also has writer's block. She starts dating Rafe (Jason Biggs) seeing him as her savior.I appreciate Elizabeth Wurtzel trying to bring her life experience onto the screen. However I don't think it's dramatic enough. At least, it's not dramatic as filmed by Erik Skjoldbjærg. It's like her illness. The movie is a trying experience. I have a difficult time trying to feel alongside her character. Maybe if I had similar mental problem, I could empathize with the character. The movie may become more compelling.

How can they go wrong with two of my favorite actresses? Christina Ricci and Jessica Lange (check her out in Asylum: American Horror Story - she is brilliant). Ricci is Lizzie, a very talented, confused, screwed up, depressed, schizo, druggie, alcoholic: (she has some serious problems) - all seemingly the result of an absent, slacker Father and a meddling Mother. The thing that comes across very dramatically is that everyone (except her friend played by Michelle Williams) is only concerned with themselves. Her Mother throws her a birthday party - that really is meant to impress her (Lange's) Mother. Lizzie sees this & shocks them all with language, attitude, and anger. Her Father is just concerned with his (lack of a) career - his finances, etc.Poor Lizzie is a ping pong ball which just gets batted around as the key people in her life search for their own meaning. No wonder she is so screwed up.Highlights of this film were when Rafe tells Lizzie why he sticks with her - because she feels everything down to her very being - (not like the air headed twits that were at Harvard - should have been a great cameo for Gwyneth Paltrow).Another highlight - when Lizzie and her Mom are struggling to understand each other (after the disastrous birthday party) and all the pain, disappointment and resentments just spill out. These ladies are really good. Jessica Lange has come a long way from the clutches of King Kong!FInal highlight - showing Lizzie struggling with writer's block. I am fascinated by the creative process (I'm sure you can tell I do not have it in abundance as you read my reviews) and when the creativity dries up - seeing how the person copes is fascinating. Best example of this is Salieri trying to stay up with Mozart at the end of Amadeus - you have to check it out.THis movie has been around, but if you have not seen it, you should. Lots a bad language, sex, drugs, etc. so wait until your children are at least twelve before letting them see it (JUST KIDDING!!!) DonB

I haven't read the novel, and I did not know anything about Wurtzel before watching this, though I understand that she was rather unhappy with how this turned out, and I have no doubt that the book is better(it almost always is, not due to that medium being superior, both have positive aspects to them that the other does not, but adaptations between forms of expression face many difficulties). This is not a pleasant film. It is tense throughout, is not terribly "Hollywood"(meaning, mainstream audiences are not going to expect what this holds), and a lot of people are not going to like it. This is fast-paced, and it could perhaps have helped if there were more dwelling. It doesn't really give you a lot of a chance to take it all in, until the about 90 minutes are up. The acting is excellent, Ricci displays her usual incredible talent, Lange does marvelous, and Biggs turns out to be rather solid. There's not a single poor performance in this. The cinematography, editing and direction are effective. While I haven't watched anything else by Skjoldbjærg, I have been interested in doing so, such as Insomnia, since remade for American audiences by Christopher Nolan(and that version, I have seen, and enjoyed immensely). The writing is magnificent, and everything felt completely credible, characters, occurrences, all of it. This has a little nudity, some sex, disturbing material and relatively infrequent strong language. The DVD holds a few cast interviews, the Anatomy of a Scene episode done on this movie, a theatrical trailer and sneak previews. I recommend this to anyone who thinks it is for them, and who are mature enough to handle it. 7/10

I seldom see a film with such a cast, such a potentially strong story and based on a bestselling book that has been this weak and to some extent unwatchable... The premise of a story reads like a Brent Easton Ellis novel - a lot of drugs, hopelessness and self-induced tragedy as a young Elisabeth Wurtzel (played by Christina Ricci) tries to cope with being a suicidal loser, that can't seem to accept that she is actually living a good life and that basically she is pathetic for being such a baby... Christina Ricci is not only playing a tragic personae, but also a tragic actor, whose sobbing and screeching for the most part of the movie actually make you want to shout - kill yourself already and let us get to the credits rolling... The director is of no help as he supplies absolutely no pace and the story feels so disjointed you have no idea what this damn girl is actually on about. The director apparently was on Prozac when directing this imitation of a movie and hence let the movie go on autopilot making it an unbearable mess.The only redeeming features are a sympathetic Jason Biggs, as Wurtzel's boyfriend (who thankfully decided to dump the self-indulgent egocentric egomaniac) and an unbelievably good Jessica Lange as the cry-babies mother. Lange apparently can not be brought down by terrible script, directing and dire co-actors. Pure class.I don't know if this is really who Wurtzel is or was, but the film has successfully made me totally uninterested in her writings.In the end I finished watching this movie and instantly started to think: OK. Time to watch something, that actually is about REAL problems...