A DARK DESCENT INTO ADDICTION

PERMANENT MIDNIGHT: Comedy-drama. Starring Ben Stiller, Maria Bello and
Elizabeth Hurley. Directed by David Veloz. (R. 95 minutes. At the Bridge.)

Ben Stiller seems the perfect actor to play Hollywood writer- turned-junkie
Jerry Stahl in ``Permanent Midnight,'' opening today. He's got that bitter
humor, the intense eyes betraying an inner life of pain. And he comes off
as pathetic.

The trouble is that it's hard to care -- even though the film is
well-acted, artfully shot and at times haunting in its bleakness.

The adaptation of Stahl's autobiography is a resolute study of a man's
descent into the drug life. The descent is a lot more interesting than his
redemption, with Stahl telling his story during a motel-room fling while in
rehab.

Amusing Self-destruction

The addiction is 90 percent of the story. Played as dark comedy, the film
seems infatuated with the point of view that it's amusing to watch
self-destruction.

Can it be amusing, for example, to see a junkie shoot up in a hospital
bathroom while his wife is giving birth down the hall? The viewer gets the
impression that ``Permanent Midnight'' wants it to be.

``Permanent Midnight,'' set in Los Angeles with an eye toward grit and a
sense of aimlessness in paradise, is frequently painful to watch. Stiller
imbues his character with fascinating desperation, but everything he does
is a downer. He jams needles into his veins, blood spurting for dramatic
effect. In one shocker, he plunges the needle into his jugular for a
quicker high while caring for his infant daughter. $6,000-A-WEEK HABIT

Stahl (who has a cameo) was a powerhouse TV writer for such series as
``Moonlighting,'' ``thirty something'' and ``Twin Peaks.'' But he drifted
off the radar screen when he started doing drugs and wound up with a
$6,000-a-week habit. This adaptation of his 1995 autobiography was written
and directed by David Veloz, a co-writer of Oliver Stone's ``Natural Born
Killers.''

Stiller (``Reality Bites,'' ``There's Something About Mary'') is an
inventive actor. He portrays Stahl as a dark, nervous type whose major
charm is self-loathing. But Stiller also keeps the character a little
distant, as if it's such a cool, actorly thing to play a desperate junkie
that there's no need to show warmth.

Sunny, Kind And Caring

Humanity in ``Permanent Midnight'' is largely a leftover commodity given to
other characters. Stahl's wife (Elizabeth Hurley), a rising TV executive,
is inexplicably sunny. His rehab soul mate, Kitty (Maria Bello, ``ER''),
with whom he has the motel fling, is kind and caring.

``Permanent Midnight'' is at its best when exploring how a talented artist
like Stahl can survive in the vacuum-cleaner environment of the Los Angeles
entertainment industry.

Stoned at his typewriter or at writers' meetings, Stahl found in the irony
of his addiction a curious energy that made him seem like a genius to
others. The film plays this card with a powerful sense of truth -- an
addict is such a creep that he'll even sell his genius for a fix.

1998 San Francisco Chronicle Page C3

Checked-by: Pat Dolan