TV Junkie

This movie seemed poorly edited and agonizingly repetitive. But it's kind of funny to imagine your local news anchor as a closet crackhead, and that's what we have here. A view of drug abuse so unvarnished that I was almost hoping this jerk would somehow quickly drop dead so I wouldn't have to continue listening to his drug addled rants. And if it was that bad for me, it was clearly worse for his kids and wife. This should be filed under "Things not to say in front of your children".

For some reason I was expecting to see a movie about the entire lifespan of some dude who really liked watching TV. Instead I got 2 years in the life of a crackhead. 2 years, that was 95% of it. What happened to the rest? And did I just see that Dan Rather is listed as one of the actors/stars of the movie? Are you f-ing serious?! He was on screen for maybe 5 seconds total.... not speaking I don't think, just grinning.

I know a few things about drug abuse. The best thing about this movie is that it doesn't glorify it for an instant. It shows the ugly and it shows a guy who threw away his family and he threw away his TV career. I don't subscribe to the whole "disease" excuse thing. I don't buy it. I've been there. It's a choice. Most people who fall into it continue to make bad choices until they either wake up dead or they eventually decide to do something different. I don't have much more than a minute amount of sympathy. And of course this exact story could have just as easily been about an ordinary everyday alcoholic who ruins his life and his family's life just like this crackhead did. Happens every day.

I happened to stumble on this movie on HBO while channel surfing. Got sucked into it. Man, did I get sucked into it. Never heard of this guy Rick Kirkham but did I realize that whatever mediocre, normal, family life I have is worth so much. This movie is real and everything in it is as close to reality as you can get. The movie shows how his wife sticks by him (longer than I expected), his kids see him self destruct, his career go down the toilet and yeah, then its the drugs. And yeah all this was caused by his self-destructive nature but I took more than just the obvious. All in all, if you are feeling a little low on life and you feel luck has not not been your side, spend the 75 minutes to watch this movie. It will make you appreciate it.

I just wanted to say thank you Rick for releasing these films and recordings and allowing this to be created. Because if this film, it has changed my life and that of my family.

This film has saved my life and made sure that my two boys will have their father while they are growing up in this harsh world we live in, and has saved my marriage.

I wish there was more I could do or say so that you (Rick) would know just how much this means to me and my family, and that you could truly understand in your heart of hearts that you have helped to save a life... My life!

I trust that in some way, some how, God will bless you for having the courage to bring forth these films and recordings. I will keep you in my prayers.

Thank you Rick!

Patrick

It was like listening to a bad AA or NA speaker, that is to say, someone who spends 97% of their time telling what is was like, and somewhat glorifying (as best one can) the so-called "high times" while spending only 3% of their time focusing on the solution and how truly life changing recovery can be when one puts as much effort into it as they did getting high.

That said, it was like a car wreck that you don't want to see, but from which you simply cannot avert your eyes. Which is why I rated it as I did - had it not held me I'd have scored it much more harshly. Rarely have I seen a person so far afield from the concept of personal responsibility, which I realize is not the typical strong suit of your average addict, but I've known far more than my fair share of alkies and addicts, and this poor guy just seemed to feel that life/the employer/the wife/anyone close at hand was doing it to him! And I literally screamed at the set at one point where his son is terrified and sobbing "WILL YOU PLEASE give that poor child a hug?!!??!?" There is no doubt that the insanity that is addiction was accurately portrayed, but it was a bit much to take for the majority of the documentary. And did the wife EVER once go to Al Anon/Narc Anon? That made me want to pull my hair out as well, that she was helping him stay sick and cluelessly allowing herself to be miserable in the process.

All in all, I'd recommend it, but brace yourself. I kind of let it blind side me a bit, I suppose. And it was hard to watch. The last 5 to 10 minutes was my favorite part.

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.