CS Daily Archive > DVD of the Day > 03/17/04

The Stahl-ed Life of a TV Junkie

by Matthew Reynolds

Flawed but thought-provoking, this adaptation of Jerry Stahl's real-life descent into heroin addiction while writing TV sitcoms is a neat peek into non-movie star Hollywood, which puts it on some sort of must-see list. And the post-film story has a real-life Hollywood ending: Stahl is back writing for TV (CSI) and features (Bad Boys).

David Veloz (also directed)
Based on the autobiography by Jerry Stahl

Permanent Midnight is not so much the life story of Jerry Stahl (above, with Ben Stiller) as it is the story of his life for a few years. The goofy TV shows he wrote for -- he was on staff at ALF and Moonlighting, both of which are fictionalized here -- are an intriguing counterpoint to the edgy lifestyle he was enjoying.

We see Jerry wake up, shoot up, mix some wheat grass, and go for a jog -- after all, he's in LA. He may be an addict, but at least he's a fit addict. Then he drives to the studio to write "the cleverness," as he puts it, more or less. After that, he drives to east LA to score more heroin. In the meanwhile, through friend and fellow drug user Nicky (Owen Wilson in an early role), Stahl meets a successful television executive (Elizabeth Hurley), and in a complicated arrangement, marries her so she can obtain a green card. The movie is somewhat vague as to the extent of their romantic relationship -- until she bears him a child. Sandra finally boots him out of the house, after he endangers their kid.

For the most part the story is bookended by Stahl's motel room hook-up with Kitty (Maria Bello, in remarkably similar role to that of The Cooler). Broken and despondent, he's working at a fast food joint way outside Hollywood when he meets her, and over the course of what seems like a few days, he spins one more tale: that of the life he used to have.

Where the film's fascination is, and should be, is in the tantalizing details of Stahl's life in Hollywood. The scenes where the writer struggles with writing, as well as the parties he attends, are more interesting than the obligatory mainlining scenes. Writer/director David Veloz (right, with Stiller and Wilson) didn't think audiences would be interested in the behind-the-scenes aspects of TV land. Midnight shows us Stahl dashing from one fix to another, but what we don't see is just as important: what got him to this place, what kind of writer he wanted to be, and exactly how he applies his skills to the "low medium" of television to the tune of $5,000 a week.

It's doubly frustrating because Veloz does the Hollywood stuff well, and with restraint. There are no clichés, just incredibly refreshing characters, such as the producer of the ALF clone, "Mr. Chompers" (Fred Willard), who takes his simple little "puppet show" seriously, but knows it may be beneath Stahl.

On a disappointing note, the movie co-opts the notion that Stahl stands behind -- Hollywood is so shallow that it doesn't care what you do, as long as you're making somebody money. The film's ending insinuates that had Stahl been around people who genuinely cared about him, he wouldn't have wound up in such a desperate place. But the rallying cry of many substance users, from the beginning of the chain to the end, is that as long as they're functioning, it's their business what they do on their own time. No wonder that Stahl's producers and employers accepted his work, no matter how disheveled and unkempt he was. In the end, both parties are guilty of self-interest. If Stahl was concerned about the careers he was putting at risk (other than his own) while he was shooting up, it's not shown here.

- Writer/director commentary by David Veloz
- Deleted scenes
- Theatrical trailer
- Notes and bios

The commentary track by Veloz is fairly illuminating, as he divides time between the minutiae of filming and the philosophy behind the story. Too much of either can make for a dull commentary, but here it is interesting to learn that the room in the high rise where Stahl and his jacked-up buddy are jumping up against a window pane was a set with a cyclorama of the city behind them (it's a very convincing set, which makes the scene all the more riveting).

At the same time, Veloz talks a little about what he took from Stahl's real life -- what he combined, what he amped up, and what he scaled back. It's not always what you think. Veloz purposefully avoided concentrating too much on the Hollywood scene, still a strange decision for a story about a Hollywood writer. The movie seems to lose a little steam once Stahl really starts to slide -- there is an inevitability to it, and you lose the edge of seeing him try to function in a normal environment.

In the end, Permanent Midnight may not rank up there with The Larry Sanders Show in terms of a must-have for the shelf, but it's definitely worth a look for anyone wanting to be a part of Hollywood. It shows the good and the bad, and leaves a lot up to you.

Permanent Midnight
Artisan Entertainment
$14.98

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Matthew Reynolds is a former journalist now working in feature film development. He is not responsible for items lost or stolen during the reading of his review.

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