It’s the Seventies and John Callahan (Joaquin Phoenix; reliably super-duper) is an alcoholic with a new best friend, Dexter (Jack Black; surprisingly focused).
As the pair set off on a quest to find “babes”, Dexter declares that he’s the “cunnilingus king of Orange County”. You wouldn’t trust Dexter to lick a stamp, but John lets the man drive anyway while he has a doze. When he wakes up, he’s paralysed from the waist down, Dexter having crashed into a lamppost at 90mph.
Gus Van Sant’s new film (an Amazon acquisition — clearly, the streaming service has developed a taste for the edgy) is many things, including a jubilantly fluid portrait of the artist as a non-PC “quad”. Post-accident, Callahan becomes a cartoonist. We see examples of his work, which is genuinely funny (imagine Gary Larson desperate to pick a fight).
The very best scenes, however, show John interacting with other addicts. John is put in touch with AA sponsor Donnie (Jonah Hill), who hosts meetings in his palatial home. Donnie is a blonde bombshell: gay, radiantly cute and unpredictable. He calls the members of the group “piglets”. Even as you hang on his every sardonic word, you half expect him to turn into a Charles Manson-style monster.
Basically, you can’t take your eyes off Hill. And you get the feeling that Phoenix can’t either. That gravitational pull is exactly right for the story. Donnie rearranges John’s universe.
Other members of the group prove just as intense. Indie rockers Kim Gordon and Beth Ditto convince as down-to-earth women who will always be on the verge. Brilliant musicians capable of brilliant acting are like wristwatches that can track nuclear warheads. You just look at them and say: “Wow!”
Just two niggles. Rooney Mara as Callahan’s gorgeous Swedish girlfriend, Annu, has nothing to do but smile. Even by manic dream-pixie standards, she’s a dimple in search of a personality.
Worse, the bland and sappy climax feels like a blatant plug for 12 Step therapy. AA is as American as apple pie and we’re bullied into seeing it as The Answer. Here’s a radical plan: towards the end, Donnie delivers a maxim and John drawls: “Who said that? Elton John?” Once you hear that line, simply leave. This is a spry addiction drama. Quit while it’s ahead.
