Less Than Zero
Below the baseline
Less Than Zero is a 1985 novel by Bret Easton Ellis depicting wealthy, disaffected Los Angeles youth adrift in drugs, sex, and moral emptiness.
The title comes from an Elvis Costello song.
A 1987 film adaptation starred Robert Downey Jr.
The phrase has become shorthand for nihilistic excess among the privileged: Their parties had a Less Than Zero vibe.
- negativeOpposite of affirmative
- negative numberValue below zero
- deficitAmount still owed
- Los AngelesSouthern California metropolis
- Beverly HillsAffluent Southern California city
cocaine · drug addiction · party scene · 1980s · emptiness · nihilism · moral decay · Elvis Costello · novel · decadence · Robert Downey Jr. · numbness · shallow · Hollywood · wealth · rich kids · excess · void
- Novelsnovel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Frankenstein, Pride and Prejudice, The Great Gatsby
- Drug FilmsTrainspotting, Candy, A Scanner Darkly, The Basketball Diaries, Beautiful Boy
- American LiteratureThe Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Scarlet Letter, Moby-Dick, Moby Dick
- California WritersJohn Steinbeck, Jack London, Joan Didion, Raymond Chandler, Philip K. Dick
- Romans a Clef
Less Than Zeropositive number
Quantity exceeding zero
positive · plus · in the black · surplus · positive integer
Less Than Zeromore than enough
Quantity exceeding necessity
invaluable · priceless · worth its weight in gold · above and beyond · surplus value
less, lesser, lessen, lessened, lessening, least, than, zero, zeros