Less Than Zero

Clay Easton, Andrew McCarthy, is a strait-laced college freshman on the East Coast who returns home to Los Angeles for Christmas to find things very different from the way he left them. The contrast between the glittering, high-pressure world of his hometown and the orderly routine of his college life becomes immediately striking as he steps back into a social circle built on wealth, status, and expectation. The holiday mood only sharpens the tension between appearances and reality, exposing cracks in the lives of people he thought he understood.

His high school girlfriend and now model, Blair, Jami Gertz, has taken a dangerous turn. She has fallen into cocaine use and has been involved with Clay’s high school best friend, Julian Wells, Robert Downey Jr.. The reunion unfolds against a backdrop of glamour that masks a fragile personal life, where trust is scarce and old loyalties are tested by the lure of easy pleasure. Blair’s attractiveness and social standing pull her deeper into a world where the lines between romance, addiction, and self-destruction blur, creating a volatile dynamic among the trio.

Julian Wells, Robert Downey Jr., has spiraled further since the collapse of his once-promising record company. His addiction has intensified, and he finds himself cut off by his family after stealing to support his habit. The combination of financial desperation and personal failure pushes him toward homelessness, leaving him increasingly vulnerable to manipulation and coercion. The pressures mount as his dealer, Rip, a former classmate, closes in with a punitive debt of $50,000 that Julian cannot repay. Rip’s harassment underscores a brutal reality beneath the LA gloss: for many, success is fragile, and addiction can derail even the closest friendships.

Caught between his loyal past and the alarming present, Clay’s sense of responsibility is put to the test. As Julian’s addiction worsens, he is forced to make harrowing choices to survive, choices that ripple through his relationships with Blair and Clay. Rip’s grip tightens, and the prospect of a momentary escape through prostitution to settle the debt becomes a ruinous option that shadows every decision. The tension reaches a breaking point during a night of danger and exposure, as Julian endures an overdose and a tense escape from Rip’s menacing reach.

The moment of reckoning arrives when Julian resolves to quit and seeks his father’s help, a plea that signals a desire for a different path but also reveals the depth of his fragility. The next day, he shares his sober plan with Rip, who refuses to concede and accelerates the pressure. The situation escalates when Rip lures Julian to a Christmas party in Palm Springs, a gathering of affluent men who project control and comfort while concealing their own predatory impulses. The layers of deception surrounding the holiday season become a harsh commentary on appearances versus reality.

Clay refuses to abandon Julian and Blair, and his decision leads to a dangerous confrontation. He tracks Julian down, and a violent clash with Rip and his henchmen erupts. The trio — Clay, Julian, and Blair — escapes into a long, tense drive through the desert, a bid for Julian to confront his addiction and reclaim some semblance of a future. The journey is fraught with the exhaustion of fear, the ache of loss, and the stubborn pull of hope, even as the road ahead remains uncertain.

Tragedy strikes in the early hours of the morning: Julian dies of heart failure in the car, a fatal culmination of years of self-destruction and strain. The loss casts a long shadow over the survivors, forcing them to confront the consequences of a lifestyle built on fragile foundations. In the quiet aftermath, the funeral becomes a place of memory and reflection. Clay and Blair sit together on a cemetery bench, recounting their friend and the fragile bond that once linked them all. Clay reveals his intention to return to the East Coast, inviting Blair to join him, a gesture that offers a chance at something steady and real amid the wreckage of their lives. Blair accepts, choosing a future beyond the desert and the party circuit that have defined them.

The film closes with a bittersweet snapshot: the three of them at graduation, a moment frozen in time that hints at a last glimpse of happiness before the weight of experience sets in. What begins as a story about privilege and temptation evolves into a meditation on the costs of addiction and the resilience required to choose a different path. The characters’ journeys illuminate how quickly a glossy surface can crumble when faced with hard truths, and how, even in the wake of tragedy, the possibility of repair and renewal can endure.

Overall, the narrative tracks a Christmas season that exposes the fragility of youth, fame, and friendship in a city where wealth masks vulnerability and every choice carries a consequence. It offers a sober look at how easily care, loyalty, and hope can collide with addiction, debt, and danger — and how, in the end, a road trip through the desert can become a reckoning, a funeral, and a fragile step toward a new beginning.

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 10:30