A powerful debut from writer-actor-director Lapica. Based on his own experiences as a Las Vegas teen, Lapica plays Andrew, a smart and talented high-schooler whose life has come undone after the death of his father. Smoking pot, drinking and pulling juvenile pranks (shooting paintballs at tourists on the Strip being the most amusing), Andrew is indifferently throwing his life away. His pill-popping mother, played by Diane Venora, sends him packing to a juvenile lockdown facility, her last hope for helping her son.
In all films about therapy, there comes a moment when the central character must hit rock bottom and recognize the extent of his own problems before any sort of healing can come. What Lapica does so nicely with Self-Medicated is delay that moment time and time again. Every time you think Andrew is going to crack, he brazenly denies the world his pain. When it finally comes, it’s well-earned.
Lapica handles himself well wearing all three hats, and his cast gives him solid support. The too-little-seen Venora is superb as the mom, and Greg Germann, so smarmy in his role on Ally McBeal, plays straight as a counselor trying to help.
Self-Medicated
***
Monty Lapica, Diane Venora,
Michael Bowen
Directed by Monty Lapica
Rated R
Opens Friday