Provocative, amusing, and profoundly disturbing

Rating: 10/10 (6 May 1999)

This is a film that grabs you by the short hairs and makes you sit up and take notice. No matter where you personally come down on the issue of drug abuse; it gives you plenty to ponder. An interesting thing about this film to me is that you can enjoy from the standpoint of just watching it for fun, or you can watch it from the standpoint of someone watching it to grapple with philosophical issues. True, the protagonists in this flick are a motley crew, but even in the depths of despair and degradation hope comes through. Albeit often in morose ways. Sick Boy's agony over the babies death for example shows even the most craven usurious junkie has a basic element of human decency. The heroin scam, while an angst filled undertaking, is an act of hope on their part that can be likened to the hope of degenerate gamblers trying for that big win. The musical score is a superb fit for the movie, too. It is a drug movie and quite arguably the best one ever made at that.