rated on a 4-star scale screening venue : odeon ( liverpool city centre ) released in the uk by columbia tristar on 24 march , 2000 ; certificate 15 ; 125 minutes ; country of origin usa ; aspect ratio 1 . 85 : 1 directed by james mangold ; produced by cathy konrad , douglas wick . written by lisa loomer , james mangold , anna hamilton phelan ; based on the book by susanna kaysen . photographed by jack green ; edited by kevin tent . " girl , interrupted " argues that mental institutions keep the sane and release the unstable , because of stuffy procedures and restrictive rules written by bureaucratic doctors disconnected from reality . while i am sure these things are true , the film never makes us care , because its heroine is a bitchy little nut-job . " haven't you ever confused a dream with reality , stolen something when you had the cash , or thought your train moving as it sat in the station ? " she pleads with us in the opening scenes . but that's not the kind of behaviour she's being locked up for . this is a young lady who responds " what ? " whenever anyone asks her a question , drifts into daydreaming in the middle of sentences and thinks it's perfectly acceptable to guzzle great quantities of pills and vodka . her name is susanna kaysen , a real-life figure whose book this movie is based on . if the film is anything to go by , i'm lucky that i never read it . " girl , interrupted " is a pathetic example of someone denying she's in denial ; it's as stupid as sylvia plath's " the bell jar " without the engaging style . there are journal entries in the film we're supposed to accept as profound philosophising . most of them are just the kind of pretentious stream-of-consciousness drivel that many teenage girls write , only to look back on years later and cringe with embarrassment . the story is set in the 1960s -- boys are being shipped to their deaths in vietnam , and susanna ( winona ryder ) thinks she's got a hard life because her mother is hassling her about going to college . after a suicide attempt , she is encouraged to sign herself into claymoore , an expensive mental hospital where the head nurse ( whoopi goldberg ) gives a straightforwardly accurate diagnosis : " you are a lazy , self-indulgent little girl who is driving herself crazy . " susanna does a lot of mellow lying around , drunk on her own superiority , convinced she's " artistic " rather than crazy . fellow inmate lisa ( angelina jolie ) offers her support , probably because the two women have the same problem -- thinking they know the secrets of the universe , when they're actually defective jerks . other friendly faces include a pathological liar ( clea duvall ) and a girl who likes to set herself on fire ( elisabeth moss ) . anyone in a position of authority , or who displays the least bit of conventionality , is portrayed as an uptight white-collar conservative square . i am reminded of " reality bites " ( 1994 ) , another film starring ryder in which the alleged heroes were self-obsessed layabout losers . " girl , interrupted " is moronic and arrogant crap , not least because its obnoxious onscreen behaviour is accompanied by a voice-over that asks , essentially , " can you believe these stuffed shirts thought i was obnoxious ? " perhaps the book or true events would lead me to a different conclusion , but the susanna kaysen of this film could use a good hard slap in the face . copyright ( c ) 2000 ian waldron-mantganiplease visit , and encourage others to visit , the uk critic's website , which is located at <a href= " http : //members . aol . com/ukcritic " >http : //members . aol . com/ukcritic</a> 
