Prozac Nation

Fans of Christina Ricci will note that the saucer-eyed actress takes a big leap from deadpan-child and grumpy-ingenue roles with Prozac Nation, an adaptation of Elizabeth Wurtzel's bestselling book. Ricci puts her all into playing Lizzie, a self-absorbed Ivy League writer wannabe who alienates friends and family with her out-of-control mood swings and other chemical imbalances. Ricci is committed and convincing, but nothing she does ameliorates Lizzie's exasperating personality; spending 90 minutes around this person is an eternity of tantrums. Around to provide audience stand-ins are Jason Biggs, Michelle Williams, and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, all of whom disapprove of Lizzie's self-destructive behavior. Jessica Lange, professional as always, is Lizzie's brittle mother. If the movie really did capture the sense of the zeitgeist suggested by its grandiose title, or if it carried some intriguing stylistic urgency that carried us into its depressive labyrinth, perhaps Lizzie's journey would be palatable. But the long delay between Prozac Nation's shooting (in 2001) and its emergence on cable-TV and DVD is all too easy to understand.