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Summary: Can't get more unfaithful than this
Review: Literally, the only thing they kept the same were the names of the characters.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing adaptation of the novel by Brett Easton Ellis
Review: A pale imitation of the book, which takes vast liberties with the plot. I mean-- for heaven's sake, none of the leads are even blonde! However, if you can get past the watered down story, it makes for a mildly entertaining tale of poor little rich kids in L.A. Better yet, save your money and read the book (which is vastly superior).
Rating: 
Summary: Love/Hate Relationship With This Movie
Review: Perhaps the movie looked better than it was. Maybe the book was better than the film. It could be that there was just something missing.All told, I wanted to like this film, a lot. All of the pieces are there for a good movie: compelling story line, sympathetic characters, interesting twists. For some reason, however, I was left feeling like something was missing. I just wanted more and I didn't get it. The movie is not a feel good movie or a preachy movie (although it tries to do so with its drug message), but it does have some great things going for it. The music was excellent, Robert Downey Jr. is very good, and some of the cinematography (especially the last few minutes of the film) was inspired. Still, you can't overlook some of the problems. The acting is simply uneven. Andrew McCarthy looks as though he is interviewing for a stuffy banking position. The relationship between Julian and his father is never really played out. Rip's henchman looks like a California surfer with an attitude problem, not a bouncer type that is out to do no good. The movie all but says that if you are 18, white, and live in Beverly Hills, your main entertainment venue is snorting cocaine. For me, this film was truly a love/hate relationship. I simply wanted more to love and less to hate.
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Summary: totally different than the book
Review: I read the book 1st then saw the movie and they were totally different. Really only the character's names were the same. The book is way more detailed (obviously) and graffic and told by Clay's point of view only. I think I would have really liked the movie if I had not read the book 1st. The book is better but way worse so if you can't take graffic nature stick with the movie. The performance of the actors were great though and in itself it was a good movie. Below are major examples of the differences between the two (spoilers). (...)In the book:
The story focuses entirely on Clay not the story of 3 friends like the movie. You don't even "see" Julian in the book until much later and he is already established as a prostitute. He has no reconciliation scene with his dad and he doesn't die. He doesn't ask for $50,000 but rather money for an abortion and when he goes to get him his money back he makes him watch him prostitute for it. Rip is a dealer but not the pimp. Clay sits and watches Julian while he is prostituting himself for 5 hours - not just busts in and save him like the movie.
Clay does just as much drugs as everyone else and has sex with another guy and other women besides blair. More characters are outlined and it is more detailed in 80's culture and music. They watch a snuff movie. They tie up and sexaully assault a preteen and eventhough clay doesn't watch or condone it he doesn't stop it and just leaves. There is no great love affair between clay and blair like in movie - he doesn't really care for her or love her anymore. People shoot heroine. They find a dead body and gawk at it and dont do anything about it.
Rating: 
Summary: Re: Downeys finest hour
Review: Two words apply to this movie: Robert Downey. He gives an incredible performance as Julian a drug addicted pal of two old high school friends. Its astonishing to me that he wasnt at least nominated for an Academy Award. Downeys performance is beyond convincing, it will literally send chills down your spine. See it for Robert Downey, it is truly his finest hour.
Rating: 
Summary: To live and die in LA
Review: Ok, so it might be someone else's film title, but this is one of the essential 80s brat flicks and concerns the said heading in every aspect. Let's get the rubbish out of the way. The plot is twiddled with until it barely resembles the book. A lot of Ellis' humour gets lost in translation. Blair is a brunette unlike her published blonde doppelganger. Hmmm.
That said, Less Than Zero is probably the one film that epitomises the 80s like no other for me. The opening shots, with the Bangles brilliant cover of 'Hazy Shade...' clanging in the background, still invites chills.
Others have written the plot succintly, so I will say that if you want a cold, clinical, no exit look at being a rich, bored teen in LA, search no further. Blair (Jamie Gertz)is deliciously confused, drugged and flakey, and Clay, the solid rock in the middle of his friends' breakdowns is perfectly cast in a youthful Andrew McCarthy. Top honours go to Robert Downey Jnr, spookily playing out his own future as the drug addled Julian with frenetic highs and lows, insincere to himself and broken to his mates, and James Spader as the vile pimp and dealer Rip.
Wonderfully photographed by Edward Lachman, it's simultaneously lush and sparse. If the end scenes don't get you sobbing into a pillow, then take that stone out of your chest and get a heart. Less Than Zero has been unfairly mauled by many, but it stands up today as a film with much more going for it than you may think. For starters, it may be one of the only teen flicks that doesn't make you howl/cringe because of ropey dialogue and cheeseball disco moments. Its 'drugs message' is played out minus politics and simply invites you take a journey with the characters. Death, it seems to say, is inevitable for everyone, some just go a little faster.
Less Than Zero is sexy, frank and troubled. There could not have been a better antithesis to the whizz bang makeover! of other 80s teen films (John Hughes take note!). Helped by a storming soundtrack, this one should be in your collection somewhere.
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Summary: If you love Robert Downey Jr....
Review: Get this movie! I think it's one of his best.
Rating:
Summary: The DVD is basic but the film still rocks
Review: The DVD is pretty basic, no real cool bonus features and the movie looks about the same as it does on VHS. But the film itself is a great LA coming of age story. Andrew Mc Carthy, Jamie Gertz, and Robert Downey Jr. give some really great performances as friends whose lives take unexpected turns after college. A bulk of the film focuses on Julians drug problem and the failed relationship between Jamie Gertz's character Blair and Andrew Mc Carthy's character Clay. She was supposed to go away with him to college but stayed behind and sorta got involved with their mutal buddy Julian. I really enjoyed this film. It so reminds me of LA in the late 80's, a place I lived but was too young to really get into the party scene, just an adolescent looking from the outside in. James Spader and Andrew Mc Carthy who were both in "Pretty in Pink" are reunited in this film as Spader plays a bad drug dealer. So many late 80's films geared toward the 18-20 crowd were fluff like "Summer School," amd "Porky's" type of movies, I enjoyed this film because it was a hard hitting drama for the young crowd.
Rating:
Summary: Good movie, bad adaptation.
Review: Let me say first that this movie, in and of itself, is a very good eighties film. However, it is nothing compared to the book, and it is also NOTHING like the book except for the fact that everyone's doing coke, and there are generally the same names for the characters. Also, in the book, Clay is doing just as much horse as everyone else, while in the movie, he is totally against it. Most of the scenarios in the movie are not present in the book at all. There is no tension between Clay and Julian over the girl, only one involving money. So if you just want a great movie to watch, this is it, but if you're an Ellis fan looking to watch a decent adaptation of your favourite book, this certainly won't do.
Rating:
Summary: Seedy LA circa 80's
Review: First off I have to say this is one of my favorite films. However I'd be lying to say it was anything like the book. For instance in the book Clay is an emotionless empty void who more than occasionally takes drugs and never really finds fulfillment or contentness by the end one can't really feel sympathy for him in the novel. The film gave him more of a soul with some direction in life which one can sympathize with. The book has more characters that weave in and out of the story. The movie seemed to focus more on Julian (Downey Jr) & his decent into addiction. I'm one of those people who actually liked the movie a little more than the novel. What I liked about this film for one the cinematography was outstanding really went with the mood of the film. It made you want to see what the scene was like in LA in the 80's besides the drugs there was a lot of energy. Overall I thought the acting was good. James Spader's portrayal of money hungry drug dealer Rip was flawless. Downey Jr really caught the essence of a drug addict I thought.In short synopsis Clay (Andrew McCarthy) comes back to Hollywood -LA after attending school back east in New England College. He comes back to his coke addicted girlfriend Blair ( Gertz) & messed up best friend Julian (R Downey Jr) who has a drug addiction the size of Utah after his dreams of owning a record label collapse. Clay notices nothing has really changed around here but Julian is going down the tubes faster everyday. He owes the local drug dealer Rip major amount of money. Clay tries desperately to help them out and bring them back to school with him. One of best films in 80's cinema. A lot of people bagged on this film because they say it didn't accurately represent the book. I think it wasn't meant to be just like the book. But it's one of those movies that brings you right there as if your living it for the hour & a half that your watching it good dark drama film. Check out my book review also.
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