Purely Joyful Movie!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Being friends with someone who experienced the trauma of a child addicted to hard drugs, I found this movie totally believable. Mia Farrow gives an excellent performance as the mother asking "Where did I go wrong?" as all mothers do when a child, shows a serious lack of responsibility. Yes, a parent would be in denial, and take a "Not my child" attitude at first but coming to terms with the problem would make every effort to overcome it. This film has a more or less optimistic ending but the sad truth is that the majority of addicts tend to relapse after rehabilitation. The suppliers and enablers ought to be locked up under the supervision of their victims' mothers.

***SPOILERS*** Straightforward and honest depiction of how drugs can destroy not only those that use them but their friends and family members as well.The story of Zoey Carter, Julian Whelan, is all too common in what we see in the youth of today when they stray off the right path and fall into the hell that's knows as drug and alcohol addiction. Being a grad A student and working part time as a volunteer at a local nursing home Zoey got a little too friendly with fellow high-school student Ron, Michael Conistine, who just happened to be the main drug pusher in the school. With Zoey getting hooked on both legal and illegal drugs it was off the the races where the finish line was a one way trip to the hospital emergency ward that's if your lucky! Most junkies like Zoey don't even have that good of a chance to stay alive after overdosing by going straight to the hospital morgue.It took a while for Zoey's mom Marcia Carter, Mia Farrow, to realize her daughter was a cold stone junkie but by then it was almost too late for her to do anything about it. Together with her estrange husband Larry, Cliff De Young, all Marcia could hope for was that Zoey would somehow kick the habit by herself which in fact got worse as time went on. The final kicker was when a grounded Zoey took out her mom's car for a spin one evening and got herself lost in a local drug den! After downing about two dozen uppers and downers and washing them down with booze she ended up in the hospital emergency room close to death!Sent to dry out at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center didn't help much either with Zoey not responding to treatment and not listening to her kind and understanding appointed social worker Mike Harper, Andrew McCarthy, in feeling that her life, or whatever is left of it, was over anyway so why try to save it!***SPOILERS*** It was in fact the news that her good friend "Old Smoky", Walter Marsh, an 85 year old patient at the nursing home that Zoey did volunteer worked at passed away from a fatal heart attack that finally woke her up! The fact that Zoey wasn't there for him in his las moments on earth that really turned her around in how both selfish and destructive she became because of her drug addition! Getting back on track Zoey finally did what she had to do in trying to kick the habit but she knew that the road to recovery would be a long and hard one. And most of all it's up to her and her alone to make all that possible!

Julia Whalen as Zooey, a young girl who gets caught up in drugs. ..."everyone has them, Mom"..., she tells her mother (Mia Farrow) they help me study, then when I need to crash, after taking an exam.What is good about this film is it does not sugar-coat or deny the reality. Zooey ends up in the ER; her mother finally realizes the extent of her daughter's problem.Cliff DeYoung, a familiar face as the father, who is ineffectual. His daughter stays over one night, when he has some anonymous girlfriend over. He and Farrow are divorced; he tries to placate his daughter. After being grounded without driving or cell phone privileges, her father buys her a new cell phone she can use it in her car.This film adequately shows the predicament parents have today; while not wanting to be the "bad guy" some parents may overcompensate and give the kid whatever he or she wants; this is no solution either.Julia Whelan is very good as Zooey, not overplayed; just another kid wanting to fit in with friends, at first. This film shows that this is a very serious problem, with no easy solutions. 8/10.

Might contain spoilers I guess... so you've been warned. I just saw this on HBO in Taiwan... I was very impressed. Superb acting, nothing over the top. And the story is very believable. Drugs are everywhere in USA. So when the pressure or un happiness mounts, I think teens who are not raised right could easily try it casually and get addicted. They do not try to pretend to know the solution to the problems but it is true, it is up to Zoey to come face to face with her problems and solve them. Sounds simple enough... if you simplify life down to the core, it is indeed simple.I'm a 31 years old male. I have no kids yet, but I know ideally I want a daughter and a son. I hope I don't have to deal with this kind of problems.