Read the book first

Rating: 7/10 (25 September 2001)

This is a fine movie. I enjoyed watching it. The cast is very good and it's filmed nicely, don't get me wrong. However, it is IDENTICAL to the book. There is no variation. There is so little actual "adaption" in it it actually began to annoy me slightly. If you've read the book you will find no surprises whatsoever. So why not just read the book? There are no clever cinematic tricks or interpretations (which can be so interesting and work so well when adapting a book to screen.)
If you want to see a clever and interesting adaptation of a cult 1960's book see David Cronenberg's "Naked Lunch". If you want it straight off the page and onto the screen, see this.