Konterr Brilliant and touching

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

PersianPlaya408 Permanent Midnight,First-Viewing, owned pirated DVD,(David Veloz)- Ben Stiller, Elizabeth Hurley, Maria Bello, Janeane Garafalo, Owen WilsonAn interesting true story of a TV writer (Stiller) who's heroin addiction causes him to go from a successful TV writer to working at McDonald's. This is David Veloz's directorial debut, and only film for that matter (watch this film and you will know why). The directing is not professional, and the transition between past and present is almost impossible to recognize, (is he telling us its not important?). Stiller gives a relatively good performance, didn't think he could handle a serious role like this, he wasn't bad, atlhough not great, as the script was pretty boring. The rest of the cast are OK, Owen Wilson is probably the stand-out, as Stiller's best friend. Overall, the screenplay was boring, the direction was not good, and the cast was convincing but not that great since the roles were pretty dull. It could have been much better, had someone like Charlie Kaufman wrote it (he wrote the amazing script for the story of Chuck Barris, a game show host in George Clooney's 'Confessions of a Dangerous Mind'. 7/10

gbheron Poor little rich kid, Jerry Stahl, an actual TV screenwriter in 1980s Hollywood, p***es all his good fortune away through a hefty heroin habit. Jerry then hits bottom, recovers, and writes his autobiography. "Permanent Midnight" chronicles Jerry's fall from Hollywood hotshot to junkie bum. Besides such an unpleasant subject, and an equally unsympathetic main character, "Permanent Midnight" still entertains, in a morbid sort of way. It's told in flashback (at the beginning of the movie Jerry's just finished rehab and is about to return to his old LA haunts), so we kind of know where the movie will take us. There's no mystery, we're going to watch Jerry's self-destructive crash and burn in close-up. We're a little in the dark about what will happen after the movie catches up with itself, but there's really not a lot of tension. It's like watching a car wreck in very slow motion.Ben Stiller does an excellent job portraying Jerry, with his craving for the drug rising above, and then destroying, all that's good in his life. It's quite a frightening portrayal. Elizabeth Hurley, as his girlfriend, is a bit of a stretch for both her acting talent and in the casting. But the rest of the cast does fine work. I think the major detriment to this movie is that the audience knows beforehand how it will all end. This is a very dramatic subject, but with no drama in the screenplay. And that is a drag.

cardinal134 The story seems to start in midway, and it seems like the movie is over before you really know about the characters other than Stillers' drug addiction. Love, hate, rage, and fear seem to arise from the characters without enough background on why they feel that way. It wasn't bad, and the acting was pretty good (Stiller was quite good as the drug addicted T.V. writer). Good to take a look at, but not something you'll want to see more than once,

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!