The movie adaptation of Nick McDonnell's acclaimed novel, "Twelve," is out this week, featuring Chace Crawford as a drug-dealer among young, chic New Yorkers. Think of Holden Caulfield gone bad during his Christmas doldrums and you'll get the idea. Here are excerpts of reviews for the movie:

Village Voice -- Famously published when its author was only 18, Twelve the book briskly moves along with the Didion-esque disdain of an insider—material that first-time screenwriter Jordan Melamed transforms into a hand-wringing cautionary tale with a tacked-on moral lesson and visions of a dead, beatific mother.

Variety -- "Twelve" can't decide if it's a cautionary tale or a lifestyle catalog. ... [It] feels like ersatz Bret Easton Ellis watered down for the "Gossip Girl" crowd (it even stars the latter's Chace Crawford, as its drug-dealing antihero).

Rolling Stone -- Joel Schumacher's Twelve, from a much better 2002 novel by Nick McDonell, is a drag-ass slog with GG's Chace Crawford as a sober weed dealer, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson as his supplier, and a young cast whose work is done by irritating, wall-to-wall voice-over from Kiefer Sutherland. Sorry, no XOXO for this slick, hollow hooey.

Entertainment Weekly -- The movie adaptation, directed by Joel Schumacher, covers all of McDonell's ground. But between page and screen, youthful immediacy has been lost, replaced by effortful art direction that saddles the of-the-moment story with a dated Less Than Zero aesthetic heavy on the wardrobe and decor.