Mr. Mackey from South Park told me a long time ago: “drugs are bad, mmkay?” and I acknowledged that fact when I was young and impressionable – this also being the same time I used to walk around saying RESPECT MY AUTHORITA!” Thank you, Cartman. We always watch TV, whether it is during the morning, midday, or evening – it’s always on, and what do we see the most? Commercials; more specifically, prescription drug commercials. Advil, Tylenol, Cialis, Viagra, Benadryl, and the list goes on and on and on. I believe that Chris Rock said it best when he was describing ‘legal’ drugs:

“(The Government) they don’t want you to use your drugs, they want you to use their drugs. So every night on TV, you see a weird ass drug commercial trying to get you hooked on some legal shit. And they keep naming symptoms until they find one that you fucking got.” – Chris Rock (Never Scared)

Well said from one of my idols in life, because I strongly believe that. Mental health seems to be a topic of discussion that creeps its head into just about every conversation, whether it’s online or in person among others. It has definitely had a great effect in my family, so it’s odd that subconsciously, I chose to watch this movie. This movie wasn’t one that I had a lot of expectations for, but given the cast (Rooney Mara, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jude Law, and Channing Tatum); it couldn’t have possibly been that bad.

The stigma of depression and mental health disorders comes to one line that many hate hearing: “It’s all in your head.” It’s deeper than that – it can be triggered by events, in which the brain decides to shut down certain parts, and you simply can’t recover from that. It’s a sensitive issue that has really been gradually gaining more awareness because people are fighting the stigma (there are advertisements everywhere about it). A Doctor’s job is to help patients out of a particular state of mind by prescribing drugs that can help get them past their grief, and other symptoms that may be affecting the mind. But what if a Doctor’s instincts backfire on him and he’s faced to choose between going with what’s right and what’s wrong?  It’s difficult to question one’s intent when all their doing is what they’ve been trained to do – sometimes things just go south and there’s always a twist.

This movie was full of twists that took a while to develop, but Rooney Mara is a great actress that had the ability to bring you into her side and then just flip the script on an instant. This movie is dramatic, shocking, and you really have to pay attention to what’s going on. It’s a mystery, but it makes you look at just what people will do for the value of a dollar. ‘For The Love of Money’ isn’t one of the greatest songs of all time for no reason – it holds a real message in the song for real life circumstances, and it makes you look at the world in a way that you know people run it based on what they can make, not necessarily who they can help. That’s the world we live in, and this movie is an example of how playing the fool can get you caught up at the end. It’s a good movie – better than what I expected it to be, but then again, I didn’t really have a lot of expectations for it.

Prescription drugs are something I stay away from – the only time I had to take them were when I was having issues with my wisdom teeth. The side effects of drugs can affect you more than what you were dealing with in the first place. Why do you think the explanation of them in commercials takes up the majority of time in the first place? Odd, isn’t it? That’s just my point of view, but if you need them, use them wisely. As for this movie, go see it. This is my opinion, this is my review, but for now

That’s My Word & It STiXX