LESS THAN ZERO Daybill Movie Poster 1987 Robert Downey James Spader

Less Than Zero (1987)

Directed by Marek Kanievska.

With Andrew McCarthy, Jami Gertz, Robert Downey Jr., James Spader

Clay, an eighteen-year-old freshman, comes back from his first term at Princeton to spend his Christmas vacation with his broken-up wealthy family in Los Angeles. His former girlfriend, Blair, is now involved with his ex-best-friend, Julian. She warns Clay that Julian needs help: he is using a lot of cocaine and has huge debts. What follows is a look at the youth culture of wealthy post adolescents in Beverly Hills with a strong anti-drug message. Apart from the setting and the names, the film has very little to do with Bret Easton Ellis's book by the same title on which it was based.