
As a writer stymied by past success, writers block, substance abuse, relationship problems and a serious set of father issues, Elliott's cracked-out chronicle of a bizarre murder trial amounts to less than the sum of its parts. Not long into the 2007 trial of programmer Hans Reiser, accused of murdering his wife, the defendant's friend Sean Sturgeon obliquely confessed to several murders (though not the murder of Reiser's wife). Elliott, caught up in the film-ready twist and ... (Full plot summary below)
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As a writer stymied by past success, writers block, substance abuse, relationship problems and a serious set of father issues, Elliott's cracked-out chronicle of a bizarre murder trial amounts to less than the sum of its parts. Not long into the 2007 trial of programmer Hans Reiser, accused of murdering his wife, the defendant's friend Sean Sturgeon obliquely confessed to several murders (though not the murder of Reiser's wife). Elliott, caught up in the film-ready twist and his tenuous connection to Sturgeon (they share a BDSM social circle), makes a record of the proceedings. The result is a scattered, self-indulgent romp through the mind of a depressive narcissist obsessed with his insecurities and childhood traumas.
Leave your thoughts about The Adderall Diaries.
| Fresh FictionJames ClayIt's truly hard to tell if this is satire or in earnest. |
| Austin American-StatesmanMatthew OdamThe frenetic tone and uneven storytelling feels more like an outline for a film than a finished product. |
| Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinThe Adderall Diaries is a complex, absorbing, at times profound look at how we choose to remember our past. Wh |
| indieWireDavid EhrlichThe Adderall Diaries is about nothing but itself. It's not fiction, it's forgery. It's not adaptation, it's erasure. |
| San Diego Union-TribuneAnders WrightThere are scattered subplots that never truly come together as a cohesive whole. It's a labor of love that doesn't successfully do its source material justice. |
| The PlaylistKate ErblandRomanowksy has gamely hacked through Elliott’s purposely messy and tangential material to craft a workable portrait of pain and addiction, one that’s bizarrely entertaining even in its most brutal moments, good enough for at least one hit. |
| The Seattle TimesTom KeoghWhat rescues “Diaries” and its grimy, cracked-glass look is its firm grip on Stephen’s incremental awareness that he and his misery are not the center of the universe. |
| Screen InternationalDavid D'ArcyThe result is not altogether intoxicating. |
| Cincinnati CityBeattt stern-enziScreenwriter and director Pamela Romanowsky adapts Elliott's memoir, allowing the loose strands of narrative to unravel even further, approximating the downward spiral of Elliott's blocked psyche. |
| TheWrapDan CallahanAt first, Elliott’s struggle does not seem like promising material for a movie, and some might be unsatisfied by the shifting, inchoate nature of the film’s forward trajectory, but at a certain point the narrative begins to coalesce around the idea of taking responsibility for your own life, and Romanowsky makes this seem like a refreshing or at least tough-minded theme. |