Lee Eisenberg There have been many drug addiction movies: "A Panic in Needle Park", "Scarface", "Drugstore Cowboy", "Naked Lunch", "The Basketball Diaries", "Trainspotting", "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and now "Permanent Midnight". This last one features Ben Stiller as writer Jerry Stahl, who is battling heroin addiction. Throughout the movie, we follow Jerry around and see how the addiction is affecting his life and relationships. It was certainly worth seeing, but it didn't really show anything that we haven't seen before (granted, it wasn't weird like "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"). It's sort of weird to think that Ben Stiller in the same year went from a totally silly role in "There's Something About Mary" to this grim role. Oh well...

emo775 I have just caught up with this movie on DVD. Stunning performance from Ben Stiller, but who decided to waste Owen Wilson ? The DVD Director's commentary indicates that he had specifically cast Wilson on the basis of his 'Bottle Rocket' performance, but then he seems to have had the better part of his performance cut. The DVD shows several extra schemes which include him and Stiller - all of which are great and really add to the story...in fact, without them, you get no feeling for their differing approach to the taking of drugs, how their friendship crashed and burned, nor how this further isolated the Stiller character. I particularly liked the (deleted) schemes where they bumbled into the party set up to be met by Elizabeth Hurley at her most glacial - acting like a couple of scolded kids- and the later one where Stiller is thrown out of Wilson's house for hitting on his girlfriend whilst under the influence. Adding in these scenes I would give it an overall 6 - without them, down to a 4...

yossarian100 If you don't have a main character the audience can sympathize with, if you handle the photography as if you were rushing through a cheap television show, then having a great cast is irrelevant. About three quarters of the way through, I lost interest and turned it off. Requiem for a Dream this is not. Requiem, though very painful to watch, was quite creatively put together, with gut wrenching performances, and characters we could hope for, even though we knew all too well just where they were going. Permanent Midnight is boring and flat, more from technique than material. Too bad. I really like Ben Stiller but a good performance on his part just wasn't enough.

TxMike SPOILERS - Even thought this is a pseudo-autobiography, in the movie it is presented as the story of Jerry (Ben Stiller) in recovery, meeting a girl (Maria Bello) in recovery, and the two of them trying to figure out if they can make a go of it, initially meeting at a cheap motel for casual sex, and by the end of the movie realizing they love each other. Their conversations result in a number of Jerry's memories which are shown in flashback form.Whether this is a good movie depends on what one expects to get out of it. "Permanent Midnight" tries to be entertaining in spots. To wit, Jerry picks up a German girl, they have meaningless sex, and at climax she yells, "My God, my God, I'm being f**ked by a Jew!" Very marginal humor. This is not a very entertaining film, but it is gripping simply for the realization that some people actually try to navigate their lives that way. During this period, the real Jerry Stahl was writing for popular 1980s series like "Moonlighting", "Alph", and "Northern Exposure." Anyway, during his addiction phase Stahl represents himself as a person with little self-control, lying, needing drugs to get through any stressful situation. Then, when he first tries to rehabilitate, bad friends drag him down. I am glad I saw this film, however I cannot recommend it strongly. However, I now realize that thirty-something Maria Bello might be my new favorite female actress, after seeing her here, in "Coyote Ugly" and in "Duets." She is uniquely attractive and a very natural actress, I think I could enjoy watching her in anything!