Don't bother...(warning low grade spoiler)

Not sure what Reiner was intending with this one...trying to show the challenges of growing up among the L.A. elite but in such a hackneyed and superficial way? (We are also never shown or even given a hint as to what Charlie's life before drugs was like, or where he went astray.)

And why are the therapeutic milieus (which are usually far from perfect) shown in such a manipulative, passive-aggressive, and weak-willed light? Does Reiner know anything about these programs, or is he just relying on derisory mainstream images of them (or worse yet, knows better but chose to cater to them for cheap entertainment points)?

Gave it a few stars because it was well-made in terms of filming, clearly Reiner knows how to make a film from a technical viewpoint...also the film bothered me because it was so obsessively southern California...yes I understand that was the context but it seems that (American) filmmakers nowadays seem unable to transcend their regional worldview (everything seems done from the perspective of someone who lives in L.A. [or more precisely, Hollywood]). (Did think were there at least some low-grade mature plot twists when Charlie's gf leaves them and his father thinks he's lost the election, also his mother's insistence on standing up for her son even against the wishes of the father).