The Adderall Diaries

"A father does what he has to do to protect his children." Stephen Elliott (Franco) is a successful writer who is going through a bout of writers block. He begins to find inspiration in a court case involving the murder of a woman by her husband. The trial begins to drag up painful memories of his own past and living with his father Neil (Harris). When Neil once again shows up Stephen begins to spiral and it effects every aspect of his life. This is a strange movie. The acting is great, as expected but the idea is a little generic and overused. The thing that really keeps the movie from being too cookie cutter are the actors. Franco does a great job playing the tortured soul, Heard is great as the confused girlfriend and Harris, as always, steals the movie and plays his part so perfect that you aren't sure if he is really as bad as Elliott portrays him. All that said this is a a decent movie but nothing to rush and see. Overall, great acting and casting really makes this movie better than it could have been. Worth a rent. I give this a B-.

After hearing about (but not reading) the book I was a little excited for this film. Terrible let down. There is no real plot or even a narrative and I can't for the life of me understand why this gets placed under the Thriller genre. It is little more than a plodding collection of vignettes strung together with an inordinate number of slow-motion flashbacks. Seriously if just the flashbacks and montages were shown in realtime it would cut the runtime of this movie by half. Want to convey a memory of a happy family? Slow motion flashback of them kicking a ball in the yard. Angry family? Slow motion flashback of them yelling and punching. Repeat this over and over to fill the space where plot and character development would go.

The "trial" component feels forced as an unnecessary element (maybe to convince us it's a thriller?). There isn't one relationship in this movie we ever actually care about and, as if to add insult to injury, the star seems to magically reconcile a lifetime of bad choices in the last ten minutes! Too bad this was a really bad vehicle for some otherwise good talent.

Given the Title, Adderall (focus driven medication prescribed for ADHD and narcolepsy), it's only mentioned as a "Catch-All" for Drug Addiction.

James Franco is getting to the Point where No One can take Him Seriously anymore. So Overexposed and with Limited Ability to Transcend His Own Personality, He gives Performance after Performance Playing Himself.

A Best Selling Memoir from Author Stephen Elliott is the Source Material. The Plot of the Movie Explores Memory Confabulation. It's a Heady Affair that Lacks Focus. It Rambles with Borderline Incoherence Dealing with so many Profound Subjects that most of it is Lost in the Translation of Clichéd Sex and Drug Behavior Attempting to be "Indie-Edgy" with Sadomasochism.

Nothing is Drawn from the Personality Disorders or Family Dysfunction beyond "True Crime" Motivations and to be frank, not much is Realized even there.

A Mess of a Movie with Ed Harris Overacting to Burn Up the Screen with Hidden Clues about what Really Happened. In the End it is Doubtful You will Care. The Main Problem in the Movie is its Ambition to Group Dysfunction, Addiction, and Mental Illness into a Pot and Stir. The Cinematic Stew, Unfortunately is Tasteless and no where Near Fulfilling or Satisfying.

Books on fiction and even more so autobiographical memoirs are always edited, self edited if you prefer. Even the most brutally frank of memoirs there is always a part so painful we don't want to tell the world and we hope that no one else is keeping track to tell it differently. That's what happens to James Franco on another of his quirky projects playing a writer who does his Adderall like peppermint candy.

Franco is covering the trial of wife killer Christian Slater and as the testimony rolls he sees some of his own life especially in his relationship with his estranged father Ed Harris who sees the same incidents and others he prefers to remember a bit differently. Franco and Harris have some great scenes together they are the heart of the film.

Editing our memories is the phenomenon this film chose to explore. If not the best of explanations it's a valiant attempt.

Great cast! Story was uneven and quite frankly boring at times. I'll watch Ed Harris in anything.