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Prozac Nation

Play trailer Poster for Prozac Nation R 2003 1h 39m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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29% Tomatometer 24 Reviews 58% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
Based on the best selling novel, set in the mid 1980's before the prevalence of anti-depressants, it follows a young working class woman's (Christina Ricci) bout with depression during her first year at Harvard. The film explores this generation's struggle to navigate the effects of divorce, drugs, sex, and an overbearing mother (Jessica Lange).
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Prozac Nation

Critics Reviews

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John Leonard New York Magazine/Vulture 01/20/2018
Those of you who were waiting so impatiently for the release of this movie version of Elizabeth Wurtzel's chemically enhanced Weltschmerz will be as sorry as the film itself... Go to Full Review
Scott Tobias AV Club 01/05/2007
There's really no reservoir of sympathy deep enough to support a whiny, navel-gazing Harvard student who turns her depression into a show-stopping spectacle. Go to Full Review
Todd McCarthy Variety 01/05/2007
The self-centered brat at the center of Prozac Nation spends most of her time making life miserable for everyone around her, but there's little reason the public should have to pay for the same privilege. Go to Full Review
Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews 05/29/2010
C+
It should be no surprise that a flick about depressives turns into a depressing film. Go to Full Review
Rob Gonsalves Rob's Movie Vault 09/22/2007
B
Ricci commits fully, driven to bring Wurtzel's demons to life. Go to Full Review
Jason Gorber Film Scouts 06/21/2007
C-
Prozak Nation is a manipulative, cloying take on depression, a watered down film from a watered down book. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Mar 19 I really enjoyed this movie. I also grew up in early 2000s and I could relate to this a lot. I found it to be an accurate depiction of how hard it is to navigate the world as a young, pretty, smart young girl. Also, funny most of the bad reviews are from men… See more Camille C Mar 7 This movie shows the complexity of depression and the difficulty for people with an avoidant attachment style to trust others and develop healthy relationships. Unlike many men in the comments, I have a lot of empathy for the main character. See more Tony Z 06/18/2024 Unwatchable. Staggers around as though someone stole random pages of the shooting script. Emotions appear and disappear out of thin air. It should be a crime to waste Christina Ricci and Michelle Williams like this, but it's just a dismal mistake. See more Jerod S 05/03/2024 Ricci isn't given a clear path to show the effects of her mental state, family life and medical condition. Her path through counseling and harvard is haphazard. Lange bites her nails and the movie flounders. See more Sally S 03/03/2024 This was a good movie, not sure why the rating is so low. See more the s 03/05/2022 Critically, this is a mess of a film. And to be frank, it's a situation where the book didn't translate or lend itself at all to film and I'll tell you why. I read the book…and it's a deep dive into excessive egoism and self-examination. I'm not suggesting that the author is so self-absorbed that there's literally not a story here for anyone but her but it's something like that. My dysfunctional family, my problems, my writing, my awards, my neuroses, my depression, my chaos, my issues, my therapy, blah, blah, blah. It's like a love letter to herself and to be honest, the reason the book sold so well was that it was at the right place and the right time. Prozac had become the go-to solution for all of Generation X's ills and those who were taking it were interested in comparing notes and those who weren't taking it were curious about it. Then they bought the book and they found this narcisssim and self-examination and I think most people felt much better about themselves afterward. That's the purpose the book served. The movie? Served absolutely no purpose except as an extension of ego for the author. Christina Ricci did the best with what she had…the acting wasn't the problem here. It's just that it was a movie that shouldn't have been made based on a book that really wasn't much of a story except as a cautionary tale of how bad things can go when people are self-obsessed and feel like their problems are so unique and challenging that they think everyone should hear about them. See more Read all reviews
Prozac Nation

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Movie Info

Synopsis Based on the best selling novel, set in the mid 1980's before the prevalence of anti-depressants, it follows a young working class woman's (Christina Ricci) bout with depression during her first year at Harvard. The film explores this generation's struggle to navigate the effects of divorce, drugs, sex, and an overbearing mother (Jessica Lange).
Director
Erik Skjoldbjærg
Producer
R. Paul Miller, Galt Niederhoffer, Brad Weston
Screenwriter
Frank Deasy, Larry Gross, Galt Niederhoffer, Elizabeth Wurtzel, Elizabeth Wurtzel
Distributor
Miramax Films
Production Co
Miramax Films, Millennium Films
Rating
R (Nudity|Language|Drug Content|Sexuality|Some Disturbing Images)
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jun 6, 2003, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 8, 2016
Runtime
1h 39m
Sound Mix
Surround, Dolby SR, Dolby Digital, Dolby A, Dolby Stereo
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