Fun but not profound

Rating: 7/10 (11 August 2000)

Well, I don't know. I was expecting the same kind of profound statements on drug use here that I found in "Drugstore Cowboy," but for me it was more of a fun look at drug culture. The visual imagery, use of color, and surrealness of the protagonist's hallucinations are superbly done and a joy to watch. The fecal humor, on the other hand, is not. Human excrement is about the only thing in the world that really sickens me, and there are two or three scenes in this film that never made me want to take a crap again. I think the film could've evoked that yummy fecal imagery in just as effective a way if it were left to the viewer's visual imagination instead of being thrown in our face (literally), but that's just me... I'm probably just a chicken that can't stand the sight of poop.
Personal problems aside, the performances are great, many of the (non-fecal) scenes are incredibly funny, and I like the fact that the film has neither a pro-drug nor anti-drug attitude. Rather, you get equal parts of both sides, a feel of both how great and horrible it would be to be on heroin.
But what made this movie "fun" rather than "profound" for me was, I think, the fact that I never really got attached to any of the characters--they were all very enjoyable to watch and had interesting and extreme personalities, but they were all portrayed as caricatures rather than as three-dimensional individuals with emotional complexity. This is partially due to the perspective through which we're watching the film--we see the world through the eyes of a heroin addict named Mark Renton. He's always referring to his companions as his "so-called friends," meaning that his friendships are ones of pure convenience. As a result, none of the characters ever have an emotional conversation with one another, or reveal any honest emotional content at all. The advantage of this was that I was really detached from the characters and had the ability to laugh at their misfortunes, but the downside of it was that I couldn't really relate to any of the characters at all because of it; my lifestyle and outward behavior is completely different from theirs, and I never got a chance to look into their head because they never expressed their thoughts or feelings, so I just couldn't relate. I suppose that Renton is a possible exception to this, since the film is told through his point of view and we hear all his thoughts.
So, I guess my only valid complaint about the film (the poop problem is just a personal "pet peeve") is that I can't relate to any of the characters except Renton. Everything else about the movie makes it really fun, but not too profound or insightful because I just can't perceive most of the characters as human beings. Maybe that will change on a second viewing, though. As it is, however, the film is definitely worth watching for its superb visuals, its caricature-like individuals, its humor, and its portrayal of drug culture... Though for me, it's still not as blatantly brilliant and heartfelt a statement about drug use as Gus Van Sant's "Drugstore Cowboy."