User Reviews

***SPOILERS*** Straightforward and honest depiction of how drugs can destroy not only those that use them but their friends and family members as well.

The story of Zoey Carter, Julian Whelan, is all too common in what we see in the youth of today when they stray off the right path and fall into the hell that's knows as drug and alcohol addiction. Being a grad A student and working part time as a volunteer at a local nursing home Zoey got a little too friendly with fellow high-school student Ron, Michael Conistine, who just happened to be the main drug pusher in the school. With Zoey getting hooked on both legal and illegal drugs it was off the the races where the finish line was a one way trip to the hospital emergency ward that's if your lucky! Most junkies like Zoey don't even have that good of a chance to stay alive after overdosing by going straight to the hospital morgue.

It took a while for Zoey's mom Marcia Carter, Mia Farrow, to realize her daughter was a cold stone junkie but by then it was almost too late for her to do anything about it. Together with her estrange husband Larry, Cliff De Young, all Marcia could hope for was that Zoey would somehow kick the habit by herself which in fact got worse as time went on. The final kicker was when a grounded Zoey took out her mom's car for a spin one evening and got herself lost in a local drug den! After downing about two dozen uppers and downers and washing them down with booze she ended up in the hospital emergency room close to death!

Sent to dry out at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center didn't help much either with Zoey not responding to treatment and not listening to her kind and understanding appointed social worker Mike Harper, Andrew McCarthy, in feeling that her life, or whatever is left of it, was over anyway so why try to save it!

***SPOILERS*** It was in fact the news that her good friend "Old Smoky", Walter Marsh, an 85 year old patient at the nursing home that Zoey did volunteer worked at passed away from a fatal heart attack that finally woke her up! The fact that Zoey wasn't there for him in his las moments on earth that really turned her around in how both selfish and destructive she became because of her drug addition! Getting back on track Zoey finally did what she had to do in trying to kick the habit but she knew that the road to recovery would be a long and hard one. And most of all it's up to her and her alone to make all that possible!

In "The Secret Life of Zoey," there was an earnest attempt to portray the drug addiction of young Zoey Carter, a high school student so wrapped up in herself that she cannot discern that she has people around her who genuinely care for her.

A shortcoming of the film was that Zoey was such a narcissist that it was difficult to empathize with her plight. Her mother Marcia, played sensitively by Mia Farrow, tried her best to reach out to Zoey at a point when she recognized that "we are losing her." Her bestie Kayla was also supportive and may have felt the same pressures as Zoey at this impressionable time of their lives.

Another intriguing character was the no-nonsense psychological counselor, Mike Harper. Mike was convincing in modeling the "tough love" that Zoey needed. The hospital scenes during Zoey's rehab were also credible.

But to the end, Zoey remained locked in her private world, refusing to search for her own breakthroughs. She was so resentful of her mom that even when Marcia called her daughter by her pet name, Zoey recoiled: "Dont call me Punkin." She never grasped what her life might be like without a loving parent around to call her Punkin.

Might contain spoilers I guess... so you've been warned. I just saw this on HBO in Taiwan... I was very impressed. Superb acting, nothing over the top. And the story is very believable. Drugs are everywhere in USA. So when the pressure or un happiness mounts, I think teens who are not raised right could easily try it casually and get addicted. They do not try to pretend to know the solution to the problems but it is true, it is up to Zoey to come face to face with her problems and solve them. Sounds simple enough... if you simplify life down to the core, it is indeed simple.

I'm a 31 years old male. I have no kids yet, but I know ideally I want a daughter and a son. I hope I don't have to deal with this kind of problems.

This story has been done again and again. Troubled teen gets depressed, takes drugs, goes into rehab, recovers... blah blah. The mother in film is pretty unbelievable, and a hypocrite as well. How can she get mad at her daughter for taking drugs when she does it herself?? The dad was pathetic, he cared more about himself than his ex wife and daughter. The I saw so many mistakes in continuity in the whole 30 minutes I saw of it and it was enough to put me off! Did anyone else notice how when she vomited and passed out she had spew all over her mouth and when she was passed out in the car she was totally clean? And how on earth did she get from the hospital into rehab so fast??? The emergency people in the hospital were pretty stupid, who on earth just shakes someone and asks if they can hear them?? Didn't they think her mom had already triedthat??? DUH. Don't see this film unless you like really crappy movies.