Review of Naked Lunch (1991) by Andrew K — 18 Jan 2008

This is a tough movie to critique and review. To adapt Naked Lunch was an impossible feat. The book, simply put, is unreadable. So props go out to David Cronenberg for writing and directing this opus of a piece. While it's certinally an original story, it's not alone in it's genre. Throughout much of the film I was reminded of scenes from Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," a much finer piece of literature and a better movie. So "Naked Lunch" the film, is not the first or last great piece on drugs and hallucinations.

And while I want to say the acting was awful, it's hard to do so. Even attempting to bring honesty to such obscure and difficult roles is admirable. That said, I still thought the acting was awful.

Overall, I didn't like the film or the novel. It's just too hard of a story to conceptualize and put on screen.