Synopsis

Stephen Elliot seems to have an idyllic life as a young boy but when his mother dies and his father remarries, he spins out of control into a world of drugs and self-destruction. As an adult he seems to have risen above his past becoming a successful author in the process. He is promoting his new book when the skeletons in his closet make themselves known to the world. His life starts to fall apart and not even a promising new relationship with fellow writer Lana Edmond (Heard) can save him from himself. Can a new book based on a real-life tale of murder and passion salvage his career?

The Adderall Diaries - Blu-Ray Movie Review

Specifications
The Adderall Diaries - Movie Cover
Lionsgate
2015, Color, Rated R, 1 Hr 27 mins
DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, 2.39:1 Aspect Ratio
Starring: Amber Heard, James Franco, Christian Slater
Directed by Pamela Romanowsky

Rating

Entertainment:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:

Violence: Yes
Sex: Yes
Language: Yes

The Adderall Diaries - Blu-Ray Review

Commentary

This film doesn’t present a story as much as a character study. Based on a book by Stephen Elliott, it seems to be a look at the author himself. Near as I could tell, it’s about an author who writes about himself. How’s that for circular logic?

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The movie is extremely dark in tone. Elliott has numerous flashbacks to his violent childhood which seems fraught with abuse and despair. As an adult, it isn’t much different for him once things go south. What Elliott is exploring here is the difference between making choices and laying blame. He spends most of his time engaged in the latter until he realizes the way out of the abyss is the former.

One aspect that could have improved the story was the tangent about Hans Reiser and the disappearance of his wife. That thread wound up being important by the end of the film but it was barely alluded to until then. It seemed like a mystery was brewing there but since it wasn’t developed into a story, it fell short of being interesting.

The Adderall Diaries - Movie Review

It’s hard to call a film like this entertaining. The portrayal here is of people who treat each other horribly and their equally horrible reactions. Thought provoking? Not so much. Its main redeeming quality is the acting which is far better than material like this deserves. I haven’t thought much of James Franco in his previous outings but here he turns in a solid performance. I also enjoyed Amber Heard and Jim Parrack (True Blood) in their roles. And Ed Harris never fails to disappoint.

Technical

The image has an appropriately gritty appearance with good use of film grain and lots of dark tones. This also meant many scenes looked soft and detail never really popped from the screen. The subdued color palette also seemed one-note after a while since it never varied in its approach.

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The DTS-HD Master Audio encode was mixed competently and neither impressed nor distracted. Dialog is the central component and there is nothing to complain about there. Your surrounds and sub will get the night off as they are rarely called to duty. Background effects and music were used to good effect but overall dynamic range seemed a little small.

The Adderall Diaries - Movie Review

Extras

Bonus features include audio commentary by director Pamela Romanowsky a short video interview called A Director’s Perspective and deleted scenes.