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Excellent adaptation.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Lyle Jensen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) gets into a violent fight bashing another kid with a baseball bat. His mother commits him to the Northwood Mental Institution run by Dr. David Monroe (Don Cheadle). He gets put into a group with other youths. He fights violent Mike. His roommate Kenny is quiet. He falls for Tracey (Zooey Deschanel) who has night terrors. Chad is a manic depressive. Sara has anger issues.This is trying very hard to be ultra-reality with its documentary shaky-camera style and gritty characters. The non-actors look like they've been in group therapy. I've never been in one and I can't discern its veracity. I expected a smoking area and some of the kids dealing with addiction problems. Its main drawback is a lack of a story structure. It may be helpful to have a ticking clock. It's a scattershot effect with everybody's problems. These are interesting performers taking on an acting course challenge. The girl who cuts is probably the best amateur. Gordon-Levitt is showing off his big time skills. The acting is solid but the movie doesn't rise beyond that.

Lyle Jensen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) has a few issues with anger management. Most of the time, he's in complete control, but one day, during a baseball game, he loses it and almost kills someone. Lyle's not quite eighteen yet, so he's sent to a psychiatric hospital, where he learns that compared to others, his problems are nothing. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the single most underrated and under appreciated actor in all of Hollywood. I've seen a lot of his films, some are great and some are awful, but the fact remains that he always gives a strong performance and makes even the worst movie that much better. Manic was a rare inside look at a youth psychiatric facility, but there wasn't much of a story behind it. Of course we meet Lyle and the other patients, finding out why they're there, but there really isn't a point to it. The quality of the film further decreases with the way it was filmed, as every scene features constant movement from numerous angles. Similar to these camcorder films, I honestly found it pretty distracting, not to mention nauseating. The best part of Manic though is clearly the performances. This was released in 2001, before any of the stars were household names, however after seeing the film, it's easy to see why they all became popular. Don Cheadle is another actor that doesn't get the recognition he deserves, playing the Doctor in Manic, he is the glue that brings everyone together. Even with JGL's performance, this film is a mess of nonsense without Don Cheadle. Manic is somewhat disturbing and filmed in a way that makes it hard to watch, but the performances are just about as good as it gets and make this film worth seeing.

This movie started off a little heavy and I at first had to ask myself if I was emotionally ready for a long venture into a darker movie. However, after the opening scenes the movie takes shape and what is to be a most accurate description of life as a youth in a "mental institute" begins to unfold. I myself have been in an extraordinarily similar position as Lyle (the main character), going through the ropes of being forced into such an institution and the portrayal is spot on. This film does the world justice by painting a picture of youth that are truly troubled at heart and the struggles that they go through. The characters are truly unique and yet viable at the same time and the cast could not have been more well selected. The relationships that are built and the interactions between parties are truly stunning. I was blown away by how real the entire film felt, especially being quite experienced in it's content and nature. The cast and crew clearly did their homework before embarking on the set. See this film if you're in the mood for a heavy yet feel good movie. Some parts of the film are difficult to experience but in the end you are left with a sense of connectedness and hope for the characters that you will be hard-pressed to find elsewhere.

Manic wasn't a good film but it wasn't a horrible film either. There are many problems with this movie. If there's a few problems with a movie I can usually overlook them but Manic had far too many to just dismiss them. They bothered me the entire movie, especially since they were used to manipulate the audience and advance the plot.Why would a psychiatric ward be co-ed, especially when some of the teenagers are seventeen and some are thirteen? And Joseph Gordon Levitt's character had access to the women's rooms without any problem? That seems kind of ridiculous. If he's a sociopath what's to stop him or anyone else from raping the girls? I also noticed that there were adults in the yard with the teenagers. I don't think that would be allowed. In all likelihood the minors would have absolutely no access to anyone of the opposite sex or anyone over the age of 18 who was also a patient. This movie was self-indulgent tripe. It's too bad because I like Joseph-Levitt as an actor but all the characters were completely one-dimensional. Anarchy guy, Wigger guy, Goth girl. It was completely ignorant of teenagers and mental illness. What the hell did this have to do with being manic or mania or bipolar disorder? Joseph-Levitt was a sociopath. It was just more ultra-cool, hand-held, uber-indie tripe. Indie films used to be good before all this self-indulgent crap started coming out like Garden State.Manic kind of comes across as a corporate public relations bulletin for teens. This is what we think you are. It couldn't have been any more wrong.