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Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
FIX Commenting on rehab bills, comedian Sam Kinison once said, “If you’ve got $10,000, you don’t have a problem yet.” It’s crass but true, and it’s why most drug movies focus on the moment the addict hits rock bottom and less on mundane details. It’s one of the rare times when the desperation of substance abuse shows its face. Everything before is just a front. Fix focuses on an addict, but, like its protagonist Leo (Shawn Andrews), it doesn’t seem to have any idea what rock bottom looks like. Leo’s a buff happy-go-lucky junkie, the kind of manic, childlike figure who usually awakens people to the magic of life. The movie sees him staring down a stint in rehab or, failing that, jail, depending on whether he can round up $5,000 in cash in a single day. But despite the premise, Leo doesn’t seem to register any pressure. Accompanied by his filmmaker brother and his brother’s girlfriend, Leo’s gushing and pseudo-beatific, with access to the coolest cars and connected to the most attractive people. He’s an asshole, sure, but a fun asshole, the kind you’d gladly spend a weekend with, even if he stucks you with the bill at the end of it all. He’s in denial—and it wouldn’t be a problem except that the movie seems to be in denial too.
The result is more of a road movie than a drug movie, a
tour of Los Angeles by way of Grand Theft Auto. It pops up for
moments of surprising realism—like an empathetic chat with a few
small-time hustlers in Watts and a surprisingly gritty shooting-up
scene—but it seems strange that a tour of the underworld should be so
easygoing. In their desperate daylong scramble, the three encounters
surprisingly little poverty, violence, or genuine danger. A $5,000
dollar drug deal goes down with all the nervous intensity of an episode
of Cribs. By the end, Leo and his accomplices have piled up an
impressive string of felonies…but none of it seems more serious than
playing hooky. Russell Brandom
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