An intermittently interesting failure

Rating: 4/10 (3 July 2006)

Yes, "Requiem for a Dream" is well made, as far as it goes. The insurmountable problem, however, is that three of the four major characters are monumentally uninteresting losers. It was almost impossible to care about the fate of anyone in the film except for the Ellen Burstyn character.
The other fundamental flaw was the one-note nature of the entire production: "Addiction! Addiction!! ADDICTION!!!" Okay, okay; I got it. I got it after the first 20 minutes. I still got it after the next 20 minutes. I didn't care anymore by the third 20 minutes.
The acting is very good, as far as the monotonous roles allow. The direction and editing are skillful and interesting. In fact, they are more interesting than anything else in this tedious film.