Insight into the lives of druggy young Jerseyites

Rating: 9/10 (31 July 2005)

Admitted: I love 'Scrubs', which was the main reason I bought this movie. I wasn't disappointed. But, boy, was I surprised and a little shocked by the calm acceptance of the drugging going on amidst 20 somethings of all socio-economic classes. The drug party, at which Zaff takes an Ecstasy pill with a happy face on it, really alarmed me. Perhaps it's because my youth involved high octane acid and heroin trips for many who never came back from them, physically and/or mentally. I therefore have a real repugnance for the pills, prescribed such as Zaff had been on since childhood (ZOLOFF, Valium, etc.) or illegal such as he and others partied on (Ecstacy, pot, cocaine). Whether he meant to make the point or not, the segue from legal to illegal pills wasn't hard to make. Uncle Sam makes money off one, not from the other.....all lethal.
I suppose the airplane disaster we saw in the beginning with people screaming and airbags coming down from the ceiling was supposed to contrast with the quite calm scene of people preparing for take-off in the last scenes......showing Zaff's progress from zombied pill-taker to someone facing life unmedicated.
I couldn't help compare the grave-diggers, one stealing jewelry from a coffin, with the gravedigger in 'Hamlet'. This guy was also very philosophical, living his Bonged loser life, but hoping to cash in on his investment of 'Persian Gulf' playing cards.
The three mothers in this movie also played interesting roles: one a druggie along with her son, going to AA meetings stoned; another the wonderfully wacky and compassionate mother of Sam who had adopted one of Sally Struther's orphans in the 70s, who now lives with them while attending Dartmouth (in a lower-class house, complete with pet cemetery), and of course, the dead mother of Zaff. Was it suicide in the bathtub? I still don't know.
I loved the movie, and especially enjoyed the emphasis by several of the characters (Sam, and the custodian of the 'eternal abyss') on being unique, doing unique things, making life something more than corporate robothood, which so many of us have endured for far too long.
Of course, listening to the commentary by Zaff and Portman on the DVD made it even more enjoyable. Now I still have to go see the scenes they cut out, and the commentary by others involved in the movie with more film-making experience, to get their take. I think this guy's a genius. With 2 sets of parents, 3 of whom are psychologists, he has a unique perspective with which to view our much-therapied, over-medicated society. Is that where society's conscience has gone?