Self Medicated has won more than 30 awards,
from grand jury prizes in Rome to “Best Spotlight Feature” in the Reno
Film Festival. Okay—so some awards are better than others. But
there’s no denying the film’s festival-circuit success—which
we’ll get back to later.
First-time writer, director, and producer Monty Lapica plays Andrew,
a 17-year-old in Las Vegas who’s hell-bent on self-destruction.
Andrew’s anger issues lead his troubled mom (Diane Venora) to ship him
off to boot camp, where he’s subjected to some brutal treatment (mostly
by Greg Germann, that smarmy actor who played the wiseass lawyer on
Ally McBeal), and ultimately, runs away.
The movie feels a little incongruous for the first hour, and
24-year-old Lapica—who looks about 35—is unconvincing
playing a teenager. “Why is it set in Las Vegas?” I kept wondering. But
it takes an hour and 20 minutes for the penny to drop.
That penny? Self Medicated is a Christian propaganda movie,
attempting to reach a mainstream audience by hiring one sort-of
recognizable actor, hoodwinking its way into some second-rate awards,
and carefully employing the odd cuss word to keep you from figuring out
what’s going on.
But the whole movie feels stilted, and even Lapica’s purported bad
behavior seems like it was written by a clueless evangelical trying to
get in touch with his inner sinner. (Oh, that’s why it’s set in
Vegas—Andrew’s in Sin City!)
The movie’s turning point comes when a hobo called Gabe (William
Stanford Davis)—get it?—mysteriously appears (kind of like,
oh I don’t know, an angel?) to tell Andrew that he could solve
all his problems if he quits the weed, is nicer to his mom, and prays
more. And guess what? He does! Problems solved!
Never underestimate the deviousness of the American Christian
machine. Though it’s not supposed to be a horror flick, Self
Medicated scares me to death.