Bret Easton Ellis, like fellow Reagan-era authors Jay McInerney and Tama Janowitz, briefly enjoyed literary distinction and rather pompously proclaimed himself the poet laureate of the Eighties. His 1985 debut novel, Less Than Zero—quickly brought to the screen in 1987—seemed dynamic and provocative. But Gregor Jordan's 1980s-based exercise, adapted from Ellis' less-than-successful titular 1994 novel, juggles multiple protagonists and plot threads, none of which are particularly engaging, appealing, or even necessarily coherent. A significant chunk of the story is allotted to drug-fueled sexual romps involving participants of both genders interchangeably. If there's a primary character somewhere in here, it's probably self-pitying Graham (Jon Foster), whose estranged parents (Billy Bob Thornton and Kim Basinger) are attempting a reconciliation, and whose promiscuous girlfriend (Amber Heard) contracts filmdom's most virulent case of AIDS ever, going from vivacious hottie to desiccated husk in a matter of weeks. A sordid but totally irrelevant subplot finds a young hotel doorman (the late Brad Renfro) reluctantly harboring his white-trash uncle (Mickey Rourke) and a kidnapped boy intended for sale to wealthy pedophiles. Ultimately both superficial and pointless, this is not recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director Gregor Jordan and costars Jon Foster and Lou Taylor Pucci, a 16-minute “Human Intersections” making-of featurette, and trailers. Bottom line: a decent extras package for an awful film.] (E. Hulse)
The Informers
Sony, 98 min., R, DVD: $24.98, Blu-ray: $34.98, Aug. 25 Volume 24, Issue 5
The Informers
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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