Affluenza

Watching Affluenza was another 80 minutes of my life that I'll never get back, and without any real dividends. It was a little like Playground of the Bummed Millennials, which I confess is out of my ken. "Hey! Let's get every twenty something actor we can get our hands on and make a totally obnoxious movie!" I get it's Gatsby inspired, but it seemed more like a carnal, hedonistic Sweet Valley High (and I hate those things!) Maybe the original idea had been decent, but only traces of a coherent plot and interesting/affable characters made it through the final edit. I hate it when indie films go so far south so quickly. And to think I bought the damn thing expecting better.

This is actually not a bad movie! Unfortunately the title leads viewers to expect more about 'the attitude of the super rich toward those outside of their circle' which never really happens.

What we have is rich people interacting with other rich people! And this just turns the plot into a drama of lifestyles of the rich. There are plenty of television shows that do as much. The only character that seems to have a concept of life without money is Phillip Miller played by Steve Guttenberg - he goes to work to maintain his families lifestyle. The other characters just party.

With the title 'Affluenza' I was expecting to see spoiled self indulgent rich people seeing the 'working class' and treating them with a decidedly cavalier attitude. Doesn't happen! They just stick to themselves and create the typical misbehaving rich people story. Ho-hum! Seen this way to many times.

Most of the acting and dialog is good but the story just slides along on its dramatic path with predictable turns. It has it's moments of being good and Ben Rosenfield is rather good as the cousin Fisher Miller finding himself surrounded by the affluent family he's staying with while he tries to become a photographer.

It is hard to describe life. Stories about mutants fighting wars in different galaxies, that is easy to describe; but writing about life, sometimes all you can say is, "It's about life." Steve Guttenberg, firmly established star of hit motion pictures and hit motion picture franchises, delivers his best performance ever here. Great performances help to enhance this story of friendship. There are so many wrong things about this film it is useless to count them. Here you will find a bit of realism existing in a delusional world. I can watch this film over and over again. And so I award this movie 7 out of 10 stars in total.