Written by Michael Weller, Directed by Hugh Hudson
| Starring: | Donald Sutherland, Adam Horovitz (Adrock of the Beastie Boys), Don Bloomfield, Amy Locane |
It`s the late 1980`s, and the vast playground we know as the Southland is full, so we are in Phoenix, which is now becoming overdeveloped. As a troubled, unhappy teen drives with Mom and Stepdad back to their suburban home, the `rents make an unannounced stop: to an institution to commit their son for treatment! No discontent allowed here, we seem to be told.
After the deception, our boy Adam is doubly troubled, and exposure to others even worse off doesn`t help. Also, the "hospital" is run by a for-profit corporation which is largely selling easy cures and a false sense of security to upper middle class, well-insured parents who seek to hire surrogates to raise their offspring. No muss, no fuss child rearing!
Adam comes to trust the one honest doctor, and is released on an honor bond, only to find that all of his friends really are messed up in their mindless hedonism and pointless ethnic hatred. He returns despite the ease of escaping, for more treatment by Dr. Donald. Tempers flare as they get psychically closer, and Adam escapes from the institution, only to find that his parents have planned their lives without him, his female partner in crime has fully broken down, and his half-brother still pursues gang violence.
There`s nowhere to go but home...to the hospital and the only authority figure worthy of respect Adam has ever known, the drunken-but-recovering Donald.
YMP senses an implication that suburban life itself is a form of mind control and is an artificially induced state, similar to being on Valium or something. Pretty cynical.
Trivia: cameos by Max Perlich, Paully Shore and Patricia Richardson, mom from TV`s Home Improvement.
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