Hurlyburly (1998)

Set in the Hollywood Hills, a group of shallow Hollywood types take drugs, have sex, get drunk, spew obscenities and babble incoherently. David Rabe adapted his award winning Broadway play for the screen with Anthony Drazan in the director's chair. Some people find great profundity in this concoction but I found it near unbearable to watch. A group of excellent actors seem to be in a contest to see who can give the worst performance, Chazz Palminteri wins though it's not from Sean Penn's lack of trying. All I could think is why should we give a damn about these whiny coke snorting narcissists. These aren't recognizable people, they're Rabe's mouthpieces as he rages on about the chaos of the world we live in and man's need to connect to others. "I don't feel loved!" Penn cries and all I could think was, why would anyone love a jerk like him? Would Rabe extend the empathy for a group of blue collar workers that he extends to these Hollywood types? At least, the poor little dears have the money and the glamour to assuage their suffering. Also in the cast: Kevin Spacey, Meg Ryan, Anna Paquin, Garry Shandling and Robin Wright as the most normal, relatively speaking, person in the movie.