One of the biggest flaws this movie has is it's lack of portrayal of characters, especially Christiane. As someone who has read the book in detail, Christiane herself explained why and how she got into drugs in the first place, what her peers were like, in general everyone felt like real people whom you can sympathize with. This movie doesn't show it. It doesn't even show Christiane's childhood, it straight up starts when Christiane started using joint. And she just felt flat as a character. They had so much potential and yet they didn't get into psychological analysis of Christiane and what she went through. We don't even get to hear her thoughts. Actually, we don't get to hear anyone's thoughts in this movie. I think this could've worked better in a series since the book is so detailed about drug use and what people went through and how Christiane tried getting off drugs multiple times.
Overall, it's a solid movie with great acting, but I still recommend you read the book first as it provides so much context before watching the movie.
Overall, it's a solid movie with great acting, but I still recommend you read the book first as it provides so much context before watching the movie.