Brilliantly witty, oddly funny tale of heroin addiction's dark side

Rating: 10/10 (28 March 2007)

When I was still in high school, this came out in the theater, and I remember desperately wanting to see it. My mom saw it, told me it was "too depressing" and so I didn't.
A few years later, I found a good reason to slap my mom when I remembered the film and rented it on a whim.
This is comedy and drama as beautifully blended as I've ever seen on film.
I was shocked at how brilliantly this movie flowed from the first moment of it. The opening monologue voiced over a foot chase scene was unforgettable, as Mark Renton rifled off in meth-juiced prose his reason for becoming a drug addict - his revulsion for choosing life as others saw fit, ending in a characteristically dry punchline to echo his whimsical understanding of his otherwise dour seeming situation.
The movie immediately plunges you into the world of the druggie, crawling along the floor of a heroin house as people pass out all around. You get to meet some of Renton's friends - all deep characters in their own rights.
One of this movie's biggest strengths is the depth of the characters from their very introduction. You get to know them all as if they were your own friends, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, played upon expertly by Irvine Welsh's scripting throughout the film.
It balances brilliantly the duality between straight people, drug addicts, and alcoholics with a holier than thou attitude toward illegal addicts, touching in depth upon the stresses of a druggie lifestyle, while never falling too far away from the whimsical nature of the film to make a joke out of place.
If you've ever had an angry moment, you'll love Francis Begbie. His raw, inappropriate rage is comical because you get to see it from the outside.
If you've ever had a moment of doubt, you'll love Mark Renton. He's the perennial introspective psychologist, keenly aware of his condition, struggling with whether he wants his lifestyle, always laughingly dry about it.
If you've ever had a 'bad' friend, you'll love Sick Boy. He's pushy, disloyal, always right, always wrong, but you can't get away from him.
If you've ever had a naive friend, you'll love Spud. His weakness makes him ever funnier as the movie goes on, particularly in the speed addled job interview scene, which is a comedic gem.
This movie pushes you to new places, and you'll beg to keep going. It's raw, witty, and undeniably compelling. Don't even bother renting it. Buy it.