Like watching twenty puppies get shot one by one...only sadder.

Rating: Null/10 (16 August 2003)

Alot of drug movies make you want to do drugs. Most of the time it's because they glorify them. Some of the time it's because they're cheesy, and it's fun to flaunt there cheesiness with drugs. But this one makes you want to do drugs just to numb the crippling depression that sets in by the finale! My god this was a sad movie! That's no criticism mind you, after all, it takes real genius and hard work to make you care about the characters enough to get that sad about their fates. This was simply a perfectly executed movie.
I will say that there are some minor elements that are a bit unrealistic, and that each of the principle characters would meet the ends that they do - and at approximately the same time - is guilding the lilly a bit (statistically speaking I doubt that out of a given four junkies ALL that stuff would happen), but then this is a work of fiction, and deserves to be judged as fiction. Probably a more realistic vision of junky life is to be found in Drugstore Cowboy. nevertheless, the tone is authentic, as are the motivations and character interactions. There is no central villain, as would be found in most anti-drug movies, instead the protagonists are their own antagonists (which is refreshing, since most anti-drug movies place all the blame on some sinister dealer).
The direction is lush and innovative. The acting is spot on in all cases. Now we all know by now that Jared Leto can play anything (and I since he looks so different in every movie, it actually took me awhile to figure out it was him in this, cause he looked pretty much like himself), so I won't waste time saying what everybody already knows. Instead, I'd like to say how impressed I was with Marlon Wayans. Like all the Wayans brothers, he's a competent comedic actor, but whereas most of the dramatic turns his brothers have taken over the years have been in over-budgeted action throwaways, he had the stones to take on a REAL acting challenge. And he succeeded magnificently. he could have easily gone over-the-top with his character (and I think even some of the best in the biz would not have been able to avoid the temptation to do that), instead he hit all his characters high notes without making him at all annoying or cartoonish. The simple fact that he could act alongside Jared Leto and hold his own proves that he is in the top teir of actors today. Now the only question is whether or not he will pursue that branch of his career. I hope he does.
At any rate, I'm getting tired, so I'll just finish off by giving this my highest recommendation.