Permanent Midnight (1998) - Addiction Movie #4

Synopsis: Obnoxious twit writes bad television, enjoys $6000-a-week heroin habit, and bangs one hot chick after another.

Blurb From the VHS Jacket: “Ben Stiller delivers a thought-provoking, electrifying performance in this true story of a successful TV writer who plunges into the permanent midnight of addiction. Elizabeth Hurley is his wife, too beautiful and too understanding to stop his head-on collision with catastrophe, while his family and friends are swept into an emotional roller coaster ride through the tortured glamour of Hollywood and beyond.”

What Did I Learn?: Women who look like Maria Bello love to bring home sad-looking guys who work in the local fast-food joint.

You Might Like This Movie If: You get a good laugh when you find out the TV series A.L.F. was written by an-out-of-control smack junkie.

Really?: Ben Stiller’s character ate only organic food and ran 5 miles each day while he used more heroin than his dealer could provide. Of course, maybe that’s plausible in Hollywood....

Rating: Stiller’s great in Permanent Midnight, but it’s hard to feel much sympathy for his character, who never really hits bottom (although there’s a memorable scene of him shooting heroin into his neck as an Anthony Robbins tape is playing and his baby daughter is beside him in the car), and never seems to have any trouble getting laid. Meh – 5/10 stars.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120788/