by Frank Calvillo
For those who weren’t around, or simply don’t remember the James Frey fiasco of 2005, here’s a small refresher: Frey was once a troubled young man whose struggles with addiction he chronicled into a mega-bestseller entitled “A Million Little Pieces,” which made him an instant literary sensation. When it was revealed that much of the book ended up being fabricated, Frey incurred the wrath of many angry readers, as well as TV titan Oprah Winfrey, who had publicly supported the writer. Frey eventually wrote another book in which he explained his behavior, but his fate as a literary charlatan was sealed. While its far from a masterpiece, the James Franco-vehicle The Adderall Diaries has Frey written all over it in ways which extend beyond its hard-to-like protagonist to paint a classic example of someone who manipulates memory so much that his entire reality becomes compromised.
In The Adderall Diaries, Franco plays Stephen Elliott, the hottest writer of the moment, whose tales of his tumultuous upbringing at the hands of his domineering father Neil (Ed Harris) have made for some of the most acclaimed reading critics have seen in some time. When it is revealed that much of Stephen’s stories have been altered or made up, his fall from grace is a hard one. Complicating matters are Stephen’s attraction to the damaged Lana (Amber Heard) and an obsession with a sensational murder trial involving a rich husband and father (Christian Slater).
In the battle between cliches and flaws throughout The Adderall Diaries, it’s hard to tell which one wins out more. There’s the continuous flashing back to Stephen’s childhood which is meant to clue us into why he wrote what he wrote, but gets old incredibly fast. A lack of character development is another huge, glaring, and detrimental misstep on the part of the filmmakers, while the various sequences showcasing the main character’s sexual peculiarities are simply laughable. The most infuriating aspect of what is wrong with The Adderall Diaries, however, is the fact that Stephen has apparently gone through every single hardship or obstacle that most writers would kill to have gone through. Why then does he spend the majority of the film suffering writer’s block?
I can see quite clearly what The Adderall Diaries set out to be about initially. There’s the struggle of memory versus truth — and how they so easily bleed into one another — which Stephen must ultimately face. Which flashbacks are real and which ones are imagined? Is this the past according to how he wants to remember it for his work, or is this how it actually happened? Likewise, the notion of using the dark times of one’s life and embellishing them in exchange for literary success and recognition does spark something of a lively debate from a moral standpoint. In Stephen’s case, he probably sees the whole act as getting something for all the pain he had to endure growing up. In all honesty, Neil is just as guilty for the life he gave Stephen as Stephen is for exploiting it. But the question remains throughout the film: which one of them is telling the truth?
Performance wise, the cast of The Adderall Diaries delivers. Franco maintains his reputation as one of the most committed actors of his generation. Meanwhile Harris’s first scene in the film is showstopping and theatrical, allowing him the chance to display the kind of acting he does so brilliantly. Sadly, Heard deserves a better character to play, although she plays what she does have very well. Finally, Slater and his character’s storyline are both great, but they both deserve a far better film than this one.
If nothing else, The Adderall Diaries at least offers up one of Franco’s more accessible latter-day roles. This is mainly because most of the characters the actor usually plays tend to be hiding behind some kind of veneer. This isn’t so much the case with Stephen, a character who can’t even trust himself to remember the truth of his own past. If only the film showed that he and that past were worth caring about.
The Package
The special features of The Adderall Diaries contain the first deleted scenes feature I ever saw that had an opening credits sequence. Overall, though, the extra material is really just extended versions of scenes that made the final cut. Meanwhile, The Adderall Diaries: A Director’s Perspective features writer/director Pamela Romanowsky recalling her experience making the project, from its early beginnings to listing her favorite scenes in the movie.
The Lowdown
As much as it wants to believe otherwise, The Adderall Diaries is one of those films which has no real reason to exist.
The Adderall Diaries is now available on Blu-ray and DVD from A24.
