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Am I Missing Something?

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

I'm normally quite dubious about people who film themselves because I wonder what it is that they are filming themselves for. I know this is perhaps a bit ironic coming from someone who continually writes down his opinions and puts them into the public domain for free, but hey, here we are. For all the countless blogs etc out there the message is often clear that there is only a small amount worth paying attention to where most are somehow massaging ego, picturing themselves bigger than they are or perhaps just full of the belief that people will want to see them.With Rick Kirkham I was in little doubt that here was a man who is full of himself to a point and would rather film his life than just live it. A strange man, he tries to recreate fights seemingly so that they can be captured on his camera. Now, reviewing this as a film, I cannot ignore the fact that some of the diary footage is Kirkham putting his thoughts and emotions on film instead of just having them and, frankly, this is as dull as it is egotistical and if this film had merely been edited footage from him as he was at the start of the film then the film would be almost painful to watch. Instead, the film is painful to watch – but in a way that makes it worth seeing.You see, while Kirkham obsessively films himself, it transpires that the film's title has dual meanings, because this film addict is also a junkie in the normal meaning. What this means is that we get to see Kirkham doing well in his career etc while enjoying the buzz that drugs give him. This goes on for a while with only the occasional rehab and intervention giving a clue that he isn't holding it together off the camera. As his descent begins in earnest, Kirkham's camera captures fights, depravity, self-loathing and ruin. In this regard the film does work and is worth seeing because it is a very impacting way of saying "drugs are bad – even if it takes years to find out". While I don't totally agree that it is a brilliant film I can understand why some reviewers have credited this film with helping save the lives of their family or selves by being a stark warning because that is just what it is.It is not easy viewing because of this and nor would I expect it to be. However at the same time the film isn't easy watching because of how it is put together. We get too much of Kirkham feeling sorry for himself and not enough of the worst stuff he did. We hear about some things but given it seems like he taped everything, you have to wonder why some of his "lowest" points aren't lower. Also absent is a long period between "rock bottom" and being clean – not sure why none of this was used expect maybe there was no filming in this period.Regardless though it is ironically the work of Kirkham that makes this film worth seeing. Credit to the editors to ripping though thousands of hours of (probably) banal private ramblings to pick out material that shows what drugs can do to someone who would be seen as "successful". It is a little longer than it needed to be to make the point but it did interest me for the majority of the time.

in a good way.... I saw this movie yesterday... and I still can't get it out of my head. I felt as if i was living through this with him. I had a pit in my stomach for 75% of the movie. What made this movie so devastating for me, was unlike other Drug documentary, was that from the outside, he seemed like a normal upper-middle class dad.SPOILER AHEAD...When he was in New York, and injected crack, while sharing needles with some homosexual random guy... blew my mind, and almost made me ill. He used the wording "I hooked up with this gay guy last night" Did he mean have sex with or just meet up?!?! There was only one other movie that has ever affected me in this way before, Requim for a Dream. This movie was incredible... however I feel very depressed today and believe that movie had something to do with it.

TV Junkie was definitely worth watching. It satisfied my curiosity about drug use among people who apparently have it all. I've always wondered how someone with half a brain, with a decent job, and a nice family could allow himself to become addicted to crack cocaine. What is he thinking? What is the feeling that he gets from it that drives him to continue to wreck his life and the lives of those closest to him? This film answers those questions.Frankly, the "reality" TV craze kind of hurts this film. This film is stark reality. Unlike the polished, sometimes scripted and directed "reality" programs we see on television, we see the horrible production of home movies. We see a man who has a very strange obsession of capturing his whole life on video tape. This behavior was almost as disturbing as his drug use. He videotaped constantly. It's almost like he was escaping reality by living through his video camera. I applaud the filmmakers for what must have been a painful time going through the 3000 hours of video tape that they used to make the film.Since this is the third documentary comprised entirely of home video that I've watched in the past 18 months, it appears that there are some odd people out there who are compelled to capture everything on video. Why do they do it? My bet is that these people rarely watch their tapes as the obsession with filming goes far beyond simply wishing to capture life's events for future viewing.Watch this movie if you are curious to see the real life of a drug addict. I would have liked to see more of his recovery, but the movie isn't about recovery. It's about drug addiction. Reviewers who suggest that Kirkham purposely got hooked on drugs as a way to make money off of a movie should have their heads examined. He was making plenty of money on Inside Edition. How much money do you think he made from this documentary? Not as much as he would have made had he stayed sober and kept his job. I also doubt that he would subject his children to experiencing the horrors of drug addiction. The man comes across as anything but a hero, and the ends certainly wouldn't justify the means.

I caught the film at it's Sundance Film Festival Premiere where it one a special jury prize. I was blown away by the honesty of Rick Kirkham's video diaries and the non-obtrusive nature of the editing that the director's imposed on the film. It felt like I was watching one uncut take that literally went on for 30 years. There was no emotion forced on the story other than what played out in front of the camera. On the other hand instead of a standard documentary it felt very much like a narrative film with no voice over and very few cards to explain the story. Like life there is no build up of music before a big moment and no slow motion. Life happens and it is over, both the good and the bad in a split second. It is our choices that define our existence. Rick chose never to watch his footage and he never learned from his life, I'm glad we were able to.Interestingly we watched the film again lately with a large group at AFI Fest. The cut was different, tighter and more focused. While I cant tell you what I missed from the earlier cut I do know that a diary where Rick confesses his attempted murder of a family member really spiced up the last few minutes of the film. From what I heard at the Q and A HBO will be showing this in March as part of an 11 part addiction series. If the rest of the series is this good I'll be watching HBO in March.