Review of Young Adam (2003) by Asim D — 10 Jun 2004

Saw two flicks today one was puzzlingingly ordinary and the other vexatiously painful. Vin Diesel's star vehicle The Chronicles of Rid[b]DICK [/b]is so bad it makes me weep for the millions of dollars that were wasted on its creation. When a simple taco with fire sauce and a trip to the restroom would have provided the same result. The boring set pieces, the unsure narrative, the unbelievably bad acting, and my god the awful script all culminated to form the years first piece of celluloid torture. I saw parts of my cinema loving soul fade away as I witnessed filmmaking atrocity after atrocity. You're probably wondering why the fuck I watched a flick that has the word DICK already in it. Let's just say it was a group event and I was coaxed by my idiotic friends. DO NOT watch this film under any circumstances please.

On the other hand of the spectrum we had Young Adam, an NC-17 mood piece that follows a horny Ewan Mcgregor fucking every woman in sight. The film fails to create any tangible tension or narrative strength and ultimately fails to stimulate the viewer. It's extremely well acted, soaking with ominous atmosphere, great cinematography, and a puzzling but well executed flashback narrative. It also has a weak story under the guise of all the aformentioned elements thus ultimately making it an exercise in grim style. Worth watching on DVD to see Ewan McGregor's acting abilities, but beyond that it is far too banal to pay for in the theater.