Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15437 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-08-25
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 94 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Less Than Zero is adapted from the dreary, pointless late-80s novel by literary poseur Bret Easton Ellis, which focused on listless, shiftless, drug-sniffing, sex-swapping, dead-end California teens with too much money and time on their hands--though the movie is not nearly as interesting as that. This is mostly due to the ridiculously cleaned-up script and lifeless direction, which whitewashes the baser depravity and replaces it with perversion-lite and fashion shows. It doesn't help that director Marek Kanievska is saddled with Brat Pack lesser (make that least) lights Andrew McCarthy and Jami Gertz. The only things that lift this film above the muck are the performances by James Spader as a particularly heinous drug dealer and Robert Downey Jr as a rich-kid addict with no self-control. --Marshall Fine

Special Features
16:9 Wide Screen
English
Region 2

Synopsis
Friendship is central to these characters as they try to find their way in the fast lane on the fastest track of all - the disengaged, super affluent, young Beverly Hills lifestyle. Based on Bret Easton Ellis' novel.

Customer Reviews

I totally disagree with the Amazon review !
Sure, neither Jamie Gertz or Andrew Mcarthy are ever likely to win an oscar, but you can never knock James Spader or Robert Downey Jr, who both play fantastic parts in this. It's also nothing like the book, which isn't a bad thing !
Maybe it affected me more because I grew up in the 80's, but I really identified with the characters and the things they were being exposed to. It's set in LA, but it could be any city really, as it goes through what happens after kids leave university full of hope and big ideas, then they realise things aren't always quite so rosy in the big wide world. Sure, none of these characters struggle financially at first since they are all from wealthy families, but the temptations they come across and the decisions they have to make are no different to those that face all young people.
The soundtrack is another plus - you can't beat the Bangles can you ?!?
Well worth watching...a bit of a cult favourite, and a must for any Robert Downey Jr fan !

Travesty!
I couldn't quite believe my eyes when I watched this film. As a fan of Bret Easton Ellis's novel "Lezz Than Zero", I was ecstatic to discover that there was a film adaptation and, best of all, it had actually been made in the 80s and therfore would, hopefully, capture the 80s influence that made the novel what it was. I set out to watch the film expecting it to be as thrillingly nihilistic and caustic as the novel, but was dissapointed to discover that, in making the film, Kanievska had completely missed the point. The fact that the novel's protagonist, Clay, is effectively numb to the events of the story (his most extreme emotions displayed generally being that of mild distaste and occasionally desperation) should never have been overlooked! Whilst I can accept that a story often loses aspects of itslef having made the transition from novel to film, I found it impossible to ignore the glaring deviations from the original text. Kanievska not only changed the dialogue, many of the scenes, and the plot, but also the emotions a reader/viewer leaves the story with. Here, "Less Than Zero" has gone from being a distressing account of the Reagan 80s that leaves the reader both numb and overwhelmed at the same time, to an unimpressive, underwhelming chore of a film!

A great must see movie
Less Than Zero is a must see movie for all you Robert Downey Jr fans out there. The story revolves around a group of three friends, who all grew up together, through their college years. However, after graduation Julian (Robert Downey Jr) becomes addicted to cocain,.... This however,leads Julian into a series of bad debts, which puts a strain on their friendship as they grow ever more apart. "Less Than Zero" is really what Julian is. But with help from his friends they put him back on the road to recovery, a true test of freindship