In Permanent Midnight (1998), Ben Stiller pounds out a few episodes of ALF while high on heroin.
It’s wild that this movie came out the same year as There’s Something About Mary, because it is the polar opposite in tone. The best way to describe Permanent Midnight is as a tragicomedy—a sad, haunting film that still manages to be darkly funny at times. It never glorifies heroin addiction but instead portrays its mundane, grim reality.
The film is based on a real person, Jerry Stahl, a TV writer who, during the 1980s, penned episodes of ALF, Thirtysomething, Twin Peaks, and later, in the 2000s, co-wrote the script for Bad Boys II. But throughout the ’80s, Stahl was deep into heroin and cocaine addiction, which had severe consequences. He wrote all about it in his memoir, Permanent Midnight, which this film adapts.
Heroin addicts are often portrayed in movies as poetic or romantic, like tortured souls flying too close to the sun. Permanent Midnight dispenses with that entirely. It shows the raw truth: addiction is about getting more drugs. It’s less about the high and more about chasing away the feelings you have when you’re not high. When you’re addicted, your main job is constantly acquiring more drugs.
The film brutally depicts the depths Jerry Stahl (played by Stiller) sinks to in order to feed his addiction. It is humiliating. He has lost all dignity. It has turned him into an ugly person. The saddest part is that he has people who believe in him, who go to bat for him, who give him opportunities an ordinary person wouldn’t get.
His beautiful, loving wife (Elizabeth Hurley) secures him great jobs and stays with him even when it’s painfully obvious he’s a liar, a cheat, and a manipulator. Yet we watch him spiral deeper and deeper. We wait for him to hit rock bottom. And when we see it, it is horrifying. It’s a miracle something even worse didn’t happen.
Now, I mentioned comedic elements, and yes, there are moments of dark humor. Because the other truth about addiction is that junkies can be ridiculous. Not because addiction is funny, but because the sheer absurdity of their behavior can be. It’s dark. It’s cruel.
But it’s undeniably funny to watch Jerry Stahl, high as a kite, bullshitting his way through a Hollywood meeting—and getting away with it because everyone else in Hollywood is so self-absorbed they don’t notice he’s completely out of his mind.
In another scene, Jerry and his dealer, wasted out of their skulls at a high-rise construction site, start running into a window. If it breaks, they plummet to their deaths. And yet, in their drug-addled state, they find it hilarious. If you’ve ever known an addict, you know this kind of behavior is par for the course.
One impressive aspect of Permanent Midnight is its supporting cast, filled with actors who later became stars. Owen Wilson plays his friend and fellow addict, Nicky. There are bit roles from Janeane Garofalo, Sandra Oh, and Peter Greene, who steals the show as Gus, Jerry’s dealer—both intimidating and completely insane.
The film was adapted and directed by David Veloz, who also wrote Natural Born Killers and Behind Enemy Lines. Strangely, despite his talent, he only wrote five films. Since Behind Enemy Lines, he’s disappeared from screenwriting, which is baffling considering his track record. I’d love to know what he’s doing now—how do you just stop making great movies?
Permanent Midnight was a hard movie for me to watch, but I’m grateful I did. Audience reactions seem to align with my feelings: it holds a 6.2/10 on IMDb and a 3.1/5 on Letterboxd. Critics were more divided—Rotten Tomatoes gives it 59%, while Roger Ebert actually liked it, awarding it three stars. Metacritic scores it at 57/100.
In this case, I think the audience got it right. The film is tough to watch, balancing humor and darkness, but it burrows into your heart.
It’s also the only time we’ll probably ever see Ben Stiller play such a genuinely despicable character. He plays it straight, using his comedic chops not to lighten the mood, but to highlight just how awful Stahl’s situation is. While Stiller would go on to more dramatic roles, he never played anything quite this intense again.
I recommend Permanent Midnight, but with a caveat: it’s not for everyone. It’s a heavy film, and if you don’t want to engage with a brutal look at addiction, steer clear. But if you’re willing to watch something honest, dark, and unexpectedly funny, this movie deserves your attention—especially since so few people have seen it.
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