Rating: (3 of 4)

Hello, readers!  Those of you who are regular visitors to the Just Laugh site (and we know there are at least a half a dozen of you) have probably noticed that I'm new here.  The previous film review columnist was unable to continue with his contributions to the site, so I was asked by the editors to try my hand at the job, based on my reputation as a lover of fine cinema...

Unfortunately, I must admit that I'm getting off to somewhat of a rocky start.  You see, the picture I have chosen for my first review, David Cronenberg's Naked Lunch, turned out to be a bit more challenging than I thought it would be.  I chose it for its strangeness; I remember my impression of it from when I first saw the film several years ago.  A strange movie indeed.  But upon renting and watching it recently for this review, I not only found that I underestimated its bizarre nature, but that the movie is based on a book, which I have never read and would never have had time to read in the time allotted for this review.  Thus, it is apologetically that I present this review for your perusal now.   But before I continue, I'd like to take a moment to explain something about myself: specifically, my attitude toward movies and reviews thereof.  I am a complete nutcase when it comes to watching movies.  As soon as I see a preview for a film, if I get the feeling that the film will be worth seeing, I shut the rest of the preview out and hope never to see another trailer for the film again.  There is nothing that I hate more than knowing too much--even a little too much--about a movie before actually viewing it.

Yes, I am that much of a geek.  And since I have this aversion to foreknowledge of movies, my reviews are going to tend to be very hazy and general where the plot is concerned.  Also, unlike some film critics, I normally will not discuss key scenes in my reviews.  I wouldn't want to inflict upon my readers that which I loathe: the ability to anticipate, based solely on reports and previews, what the film's next moment holds in store.  What I do intend to do is give the reader a general feeling for what the film is like, in order to guide him in deciding whether or not he should spend the time to see a particular film, and for what reasons.

As a side note, you may notice that I use masculine pronouns in cases where gender is not important or unknown.  It's grammatically correct, so deal with it.

Okay, now that that's out of the way . . . on with the review!  It is rather limited, but I think it can still be of some use to those who are interested.

As I mentioned above, this film is bizarre.  It is possibly one of the most bizarre movies I've seen, and coming from me that's saying a good deal, since I am, for example, a fan of David Lynch's work.  Though I have seen but three of Cronenberg's films (the other two being The Fly (1986) and eXistenZ (1999)), I can say with some certainty that Naked Lunch is a signature movie for the director.  He seems to have a very unique, twisted mind.  I'll admit that in this case, the imagery was probably devised by the author of the book, William S. Burroughs, but the fact that Cronenberg embraced the story and made a film of it speaks to his personality.  In 
short, he is one sick puppy.

Those of you who have seen eXistenZ (true, not the best movie ever made) are probably familiar with Cronenberg's almost fetish-like obsession with messy, convoluted organic props and his characters' tendency to have erotic or semi-erotic experiences with them.  Those of you who have not, well, just trust me.  It's freaky.

Thankfully, though (or I guess regrettably, if you're some kind of crazy bastard), such scenes are not the focus of Cronenberg's films.  Naked Lunch, for instance, is (as near as I can tell) the story of one cockroach exterminator's reentry into the world of fiction writing, with a heap of 
drug-induced hallucination thrown in just for fun.  This movie is trippy beyond description, and really must be experienced first-hand.  Its originality is not to be quesioned.  It is, however, not for the faint of heart, and should be viewed by experienced, professional cult film fans only.  Viewers who do not wish to see a typewriter transform into some kind of phallic beast (yes, this really happens) need not apply.  On the other hand, if you treasure the unusual and yearn for a film that will warp your brain a little, then mister, this is the movie for you.

Naked Lunch gets three of four peppers for being a very ... uh ... interesting movie.  I can recommend it, but only with reservations, since it won't appeal to everyone's tastes.  It does have an occasional sparkle of some good writing (I'm sure that's the book shining through), yet even considering this, and even if you appreciate the bizarre for its own sake, I think Naked Lunch falls short of being truly great in terms of character depth and all that sort of thing.  I dropped my rating down one pepper for that reason.

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