Self made writer/director Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused) bestows upon Hollywood a depressing, dark, dismal, acid-trip-esque movie about a cop, Bob Arctor (Keanu Reeves) who is placed deep undercover into a drug ring centered around his true identity. He is given a drug habit and pushed along the way until his superiors realize he’s past the point of no return.

The movie is set in the near future, where a highly addictive narcotic, Substance D, is rapidly rising in the drug scene. The feds, equipped with an agency whose unidentified agents wear “invisibility cloaks,” attempt to impede its passage by striking at the agency responsible for its growth. Reeves’ character is used as a guinea pig, given an addiction to Substance D and assigned to spy on Arctor, ultimately leading his superior to learn his true identity. This justifies his infiltration (as a patient) to the New Path Rehab Clinic, suspect of supplying Substance D to the streets.

If you think that’s messed up, try understanding Robert Downey Jr.’s psychopathic conspiracy theory drivel, and getting around the fact that the entire movie looks like a cartoon-reality half breed, exactly like those freaky Charles Schwab commercials. Or try making it through the dedications before the end credits without feeling like everything is hopeless. In this department, Linklater is a genius, and should be commended for his existential screenplay.

Overall, the plot is entertaining enough to bear, and the characters are real enough to deal with. As plot goes, Reeves plays Bob Arctor, real-life junkie. His crew of user friends, James Barris (Downey Jr.) and Ernie Luckman (a very aptly cast Woody Harrelson), exist in the movie to pop pills and take the viewer on a virtual drug trip. Arctor the undercover agent, whose identity is unknown to his coworkers, must intercalate into Arctor the junkie’s circle. The feds have planted a scanner into the home, recording the actions of all who reside. Therefore, Arctor the agent must review the tapes as part of his investigation.

In the meantime, love interest Donna Hawthorne (Winona Ryder) plays a coked-up girl who resists Arctor’s advances, but is torn within due to her true feelings. In the end, she is resolved as a double agent, further fuelling Arctor’s developing Substance D addiction, and sacrificing him in the end to the drug.

For those who have made it to this point in my review and are still with me, kudos. I’m not going to lie, the movie is every bit as twisty and turney! But barring the depressive lump in your throat, A Scanner Darkly is well worth a view.

The movie is clever in both its writing and its animation. In comparison, Scanner is our modern-day Yellow Submarine.

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