Starring Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm, Roy Scheider, Julian Sands, Monique Mercure, Nicholas Campbell

(5-Okay Film)

Grimy. Disturbing. Superficial.

Bill Lee: Exterminate all rational thought. That is the conclusion I have come to.

With this adaptation of William S. Burrough’s drug-influenced classic, I’m not sure where brilliant ends and pointless begins. The author’s alter ego, William Lee (Weller), an exterminator with an insecticide addled mind, drifts in and out of Interzone on a top secret mission delivered to him by a talking typewriter. Bizarre, shocking, always interesting, there is greatness on display scattered throughout this film. That it is wholly unenjoyable is, to some, beside the point. Cronenberg is a master at effects, but this film falls short in terms of affect. There are some truly horrific, memorable moments, and yet, I felt nothing.

-Walter Tyrone Howard-

(990)