Rating: 
Summary: What a crappy adaptation
Review: Don't watch this movie expecting to see Bret Easton Ellis's "Less than zero," it is far from that. The similarities between the book are as follows: They have the same names, and they do drugs (but not even as much as they do in the book). They leave out a lot of important stuff from the book. With this movie the notion that the movie is never as good as the book, is definately 100% true.
Had I not read the book prior to watching this movie, I may have liked it a little more. However the movie still isn't that great. My suggestion: pick up a copy of Bret Easton Ellis's version at a bookstore instead!
Rating: 
Summary: Partying in L.A.
Review: "Less Than Zero" is less than perfect. It tells the story of Julian (Robert Downey Jr.) as a hopeless drug addict (has an actor ever been more natural for the role?). Andrew McCarthy and Jami Gertz are his friends trying to help him. The movie is like a precurser to "Requiem For a Dream", but it is set to a different tune, specificly late 80s pop music like the Go-Gos and the Bangels (I miss those songs). They are in Los Angeles where drugs and partying are a lifestyle, not a recreation. Andrew McCarthy is the streight man, with no drug problem at all. And that is his problem, he is so streight laced that it seems a bit hard to believe that he can empathize with the Downey charactor. Gertz is the recreational user who can still quit if she wants. The problem with her is her decision to quit is a bit sudden and seems fake, only to serve the plot. Downey easily gives the best performance, it is intense and heartfelt and I believed it all the way. I guess he has a lot of experience to fall back on. It is a shame that Mr. Downey can't get his personal life in order, because he is such a talented actor, and I mean that genuinly. James Spader dose what he dose best; playing a creepy drug dealer who lets Downey get $50,000 in the hole before cutting him off. Then Spader has Downey do very dirty jobs to work off his debt. James Spader is just this side of evil, and he is pretty good, I just wish he had gone all the way with his dark character. What was wrong with the movie is two out off three leads; McCarthy and Gertz aren't bad (believe it or not), they just can't compete with Downey's much more challenging role. The movie's end is also a downer, if enevidable. The message of excesse is just too depressing, but powerful in it's own way.
Rating:
Summary: An anthem for drug-addled rich kids of the late 80's
Review: When this movie debuted in 1987, I remember that it was really hyped, so much so that I thought it was destined to be a classic. Not so, as 17 years later, the world has pretty much forgotten it. I rented it for the nostaglic value and found it interesting, in a neon-glowing, teased-hair sort of way...The movie revolves around three high-school friends named Clay, Blair, and Julian. Upon graduation, each has a different plan for his or her life. Clay heads straight to college, Blair blows off post-secondary education to pursue a modeling career, and Julian attempts to become a nightclub entrepreneur.When Clay comes for the Christmas holidays, his first holiday from college, he finds that the friendship has changed in six months, and not for the better. Julian is now a coke addict, and Blair, after a brief fling with Julian, is now an occasional user. Julian is dogged by a menacing drug dealer named Rip to whom he ownes a large sum of money. Julian's addiction and loan delinquincy drag Clay and Blair with him on a downward spiral as they attempt to get him clean and run interference with Rip. The ending is rather predictable, but I won't give it away.For Robert Downey Jr., LTZ must have been a case of art imitating life. His role as a cocaine addict must not have been too inaccurate a representation of his own drug woes.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointment
Review: Had I not read the book, maybe this movie wouldn't have been as bad. But the book is a much better alternative. I recommend the book over the movie
Rating: 
Summary: A message not to be forgotten
Review: It is hard to find a movie that is adapted from a novel these days that is perfect. Although this movie isnt the best adaption from Bret Easton Ellis' smash novel, it still hits at home hard.
I read the back of the DVD before buying it, and said to my friend that I had a feeling i was going to be disappointed (because it just read like it was a crappy adaption) but i couldnt have been more wrong.
I can't express myself more when I say that humans versus drugs is a losing battle for us. And this movie backs me up greatly.
Just by watching Julian (Downey Jr.) slowly fall into one of his binges is enough to make tears come to your eyes. To watch his friends try and help, and to see they are in a lost cause hurts just as much.
The acting in this movie is awesome. The cast is some of the best teen actors from the middle 80's, and the director hit his mark perfectly. I would think that Ellis' (Less than Zero author) is very proud.
Rather than focusing in on the worthless lives of the young and rich in L.A. as Ellis did in the novel, this flick really just pics three characters from the book and focuses more into their lives over Christmas vacation and what they are doing to themselves.
This movie is incredible. If you enjoy movies like "Requiem for a Dream", and "The Rules of Attraction" (another Ellis adaption), you will love this flick. Don't miss this, if anything, let it be a message to yourself or your teenage children. Heroin is NOT the only drug that kills.
Rating:
Summary: 2.5 stars, but Not as bad as the press it got
Review: This film has always received harsh criticism and I have never understood why. Is it an Oscar worthy masterpiece? Well, no, but not every film is... Nor does it have to be to offer something to the viewer. There are some good moments in the film and as a viewer, this was one of our early glimpses at the rid-kid party scene--a shocker to most of us. Not a great film, not a terrible film.
Rating:
Summary: Worst
Review: No offense to Andrew McCarthy, Jami Gertz or Robert Downey Jr. This movie was the worst adaptation from a book that I have ever seen. They totally changed the book and made it into a Hollywood movie. The ending of the book and of the movie are totally different. It is my belief that in making this movie, they totally missed the point of the book. It's not about love and the main character and him making friends and keeping friends. It is not about him staying with his girlfriend and living happily ever after. I recommend this movie if you have not read the book. If you have read the book, don't waste your time, read the book again.
Rating:
Summary: Weekend at Downey, Jr's
Review: Less Than Zero still looks like the MTV School of Movies product it was back in 1987 when that channel beat everyone over the head with the Bengals' remake of Hazy Shade of Winter. Matter of fact, that song plays almost in its entirety over the opening credits for no other reason than, well, marketing a soundtrack.I'm kind of split over this film. It has little to do with the actual plot of Bret Easton Ellis' source novel, but then again, given that Ellis is rarely concerned with "plot" that doesn't seem to matter much. I don't think there's a single scene in this film that is taken from the book, and to some degree, the film downplays some of the seedier elements of the source material. In the end, it's a somewhat depressing film about addiction and what happens when you lose all control. Clay (Andrew McCarthy) returns to LA for Christmas, having just finished his first semester at a New England college. Of course, in true Hollywood style, these people do not look like teenagers, nor do they act like most teenagers. A few months translates to massive, earth-shattering events in their lives. You know, the kinds of events that only happen to the stupidly rich and decadent on TV and in movies. (You may start wondering why your life was never this explosive at 18). Clay's childhood buddy Julian (Robert Downey, Jr.), an underachieving rich kid with a wild side, is in some kind of trouble. The spaced out Blair (Jamie Gertz), begs Clay to talk to him. But Clay would rather get back together with Blair even though he found her in bed with Julian during Thanksgiving break. Long story short, Julian is broke, the record label his father set him up in after high school went pear shaped, his drug problem is out of control, and his father wants nothing to do with him. Julian has taken about six months from graduation to spiral downward into debt, free base, booze, and general LA-malaise. Clay seems like the only hope, even if he's pretty much a space cadet himself. The film meanders; its only real dedication is in playing song after song in true music video style in an attempt at telling a story. Wasn't Ellis condemning this type of world in the novel? I guess the movie is more concerned with good business than condemnation. I'm torn between thinking the performances by the two main leads are awful and thinking that they are actually perfect for the film. Ellis' characters in the book were not deep. They were a bunch of severely disaffected youth with too much time, money,
and freedom on their hands and absolutely nothing to show for it but a bloody nose from bad coke. It was close to impossible to feel anything for any of them, and that comes across clearly in the film. The film is not coherent enough to be doing any real moralizing. The characters seem to have grown up too fast and are, frankly, losers. However, this is really Robert Downey, Jr.'s life story: a guy who just can't stop, who keeps falling off the wagon, gets back on, promises to clean up, and then screws up again. He is an excellent actor with more talent than the rest of the cast combined. You're convinced he's not acting half the time. His only rival for performance is the tremendous James Spader as a somewhat sympathetic drug dealer, the type of sleazy guy who seems to grow on trees in Beverly Hills. He stalks the hot clubs of LA like a shark, looking menacing in the music video light as he hunts down the ever-sinking Julian. While Julian was a minor character in the book, the absolute lack of depth in both leads makes the decision to tell Julian's story a wise one, even if it is numbing. It's doubtful that anyone watching Less Than Zero will feel an iota of sympathy, but Downey Jr. works hard (or does he?) to play someone so completely out of control. He is the main draw here, providing a spectacle for the morbidly curious. Less Than Zero is a good title since it describes how much value you can attach to anyone here. Oddly enough, the ending also foreshadows that later Andrew McCarthy classic, Weekend at Bernie's. The DVD looks pretty good. The film is heavy on style, and the lighting in some shots is expressive and makes for nice eye candy. I liked the scene of the motorcycle gang roaring by the stopped Corvette. Tidbit: One of the trailers features some of Giorgio Moroder's music from Cat People. It's the track To the Bridge from the Cat People soundtrack disc.
Rating:
Summary: A good movie, but really, really depressing
Review: I did read the book, "Less Than Zero" many years ago, but I do not remember how the story compares with that of the movie. This review is entirely focused on the film. Less Than Zero is a very good, but very depressing movie. It is what St. Elmo's Fire would have been if someone had been aware that with irresponsible behavior and hard core illegal drug use comes serious consequences. The story is about a "threesome" couple, Clay, Blair and Julian, and of how life for them goes rapidly downhill after high school. The movie starts at high school graduation. Julian's father thinks that he's patched up and fixed whatever was wrong with his son at the graduation, but he is dead wrong. After graduation, several months have passed and Clay returns to Southern California from college during the Christmas Holiday. After a brief flashback, we see that Clay did return home for Thanksgiving to find Julian in bed with Clay's girlfriend, Blair. There has been a falling out between them as friends. Blair has asked Clay to return home to see her, but it turns out that she is really worried about Julian, whose drug problem is ruining his life. There are some great scenes in this movie. One is where Blair comes to the home of her father, and they only communicate through a closed door while he has sex with what appears to be his girlfriend. The parents just don't know how to communicate with their grown children. Another scene is where Julian tells Rip that he's through with buying drugs from him, going further and further into debt, and having to pay off his debts by acting as a male prostitute for gay clients. Just after he's told Rip this, one of Rip's dealer friends pulls out a crack pipe and lights it. One of the hardest things for an addict to see is drug paraphernalia being used by someone else, and Julian feels helpless and powerless to do anything but continue using once he sees this. In the end, the moral of the story is that Clay and Blair cannot save Julian from himself. It is only Julian that can do that.
Rating:
Summary: Maybe not a perfect adaptation of the book, but hard hitting
Review: Though most reviewers commented on their disppointment that this movie missed the mark 1000% when it came to adapting the novel by Ellis to the big screen, I believe if you view this film as a message movie for the ages where drugs and excess are concerned, then you will be quite impressed. If not for Robert Downey Jr. and James Spaders' performances, however, the other actors could not have carried the message with such brutal force. Julian is a wreck of an addict, distraught over family issues, wild eyed with crazy drug induced moods, not really making it in school, and his circle of friends, male and female, are his only salvation. At the same time, they are his downfall, for Julian slides effortlessly into the glamorous world of sex, clubs and drugs with his friends right by his side. This picture came out in the eighties, when JUST SAY NO was on everyone's lips, and the dangers of "recreational" drug use were not exposed as vividly. Watching Julian's descent into hell feels like a punch in your chest, and the ending, though some may have seen it coming, shook me up considerably, having known a person with a similar fate back in my '80's high school days. Of course this film is not classic filmmaking or even original storytelling, but I think showing it to impressionable teens at an early age might not be a bad idea. And how accurately did art mirror life when, in the 1990's, Downey Jr. nearly killed himself getting high on everything under the sun. This film was not a far stretch for him.
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