By JANET MASLIN
s Jerry Stahl recounts in his blistering 1995 memoir, "Permanent Midnight," drug addiction turned him into a skittish, distracted, hugely self-involved individual. And since he happened to be working in Hollywood, no one really noticed.
John P. Johnson/Artisan Entertainment | |
A dark tale: Ben Stiller, Elizabeth Hurley and Janeane Garofalo. |
The film version of Stahl's story plunges fearlessly into the self-inflicted humiliations that went with this territory. In a fine, rivetingly caustic performance, Ben Stiller plays a man on a fashionably decadent slide all the way to rock bottom. The film's Jerry is just out of rehab when he recalls this story for Kitty (Maria Bello), a stranger who joins him for the sexual and confessional marathon that frames the film. The conversation counts for more than the sex, at least initially. "I've never done this straight before," Jerry tells Kitty acerbically. "Trust me, on smack I was a real stud."
In the long flashbacks that form the bulk of the film, Jerry's only real sign of dysfunction is his indifference to Elizabeth Hurley's character, an ambitious Englishwoman named Sandra who has her own high-powered television career. However implausibly (though some version of this happened to Stahl), Jerry is asked to do this clever, poised, gorgeous creature a favor. They have barely been introduced when he agrees to marry her so that she can become an American citizen. "I think she saw us as a professional Hollywood power couple in the making, which is kind of like love," he explains to Kitty.
This haunting first feature by David Veloz, one of the screenwriters credited with "Natural Born Killers," sees all the paradoxes in Jerry's situation, and all the rich potential for destruction. The film watches aghast as Jerry gives vent to his cruel streak and courts professional destruction, most notably while writing for what he calls an "alien puppet sitcom." (Stahl actually wrote for "ALF," as well as "Thirtysomething" and other programs.)
In an intensely physical performance, Stiller is seen trying to pass for creative television talent while hunched in a shiny green leisure suit, feet up, making sense only to himself. The real Stahl, who has a small role as a stern doctor, supervised the wardrobe verisimilitude and other small, scarily authentic details.
"Permanent Midnight" is as enveloping as it is darkly cautionary, thanks to the effectively varied layers of Veloz's direction and the bitter intensity Stiller brings to his central role. Ms. Hurley, in a graceful performance, makes herself an especially bright light in the film's unmistakably Californian landscape. ("I was an L.A. junkie," Jerry says, explaining why he runs five miles. "I had to stay fit.") And Stahl's story is crowded with memorable minor figures, from the television star (played by Cheryl Ladd) who recognizes Jerry's problem because she has had it herself, to the eagerly inquisitive agent (played by Janeane Garofalo) whom Jerry enjoys confounding.
Peter Greene is scarily authentic as the worst guy Jerry could possibly meet at a methadone clinic, a drug dealer who sends Jerry into a spectacular debacle involving his and Sandra's baby. (It's a tossup as to which of them shed more blood at the time of delivery, where Stahl described himself as behaving like "hell's own creepy beast.") This episode, hair-raisingly confessional and apparently a watershed for Stahl, should settle any questions of whether "Permanent Midnight" makes drug use look like a good idea.
PRODUCTION NOTES:
'PERMANENT MIDNIGHT'
Written and directed by David Veloz; based on the book by Jerry Stahl; director of photography, Robert Yeoman; edited by Steven Weisberg and Cara Silverman; music by Daniel Licht; production designer, Jerry Fleming; produced by Jane Hamsher and Don Murray; released by Artisan Entertainment. Running time: 85 minutes. This film is rated R (under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It includes profanity, graphic scenes of drug use and sexual situations.
With: Ben Stiller (Jerry Stahl), Maria Bello (Kitty), Owen Wilson (Nicky), Elizabeth Hurley (Sandra), Janeane Garofalo (Jana), Cheryl Ladd (Pamela), Jerry Stahl (Dr. Murphy) and Peter Greene (Gus).