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Naked Lunch
Twentieth Century Fox
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R
Starring
Peter Weller,
Judy Davis,
Ian Holm,
Julian Sands,
Roy Scheider,
and
Monique Mercure
Bill Lee becomes addicted to the insect powder he uses and accidentally kills his wife. Under the influence of the powder, he finds himself in a world of bugs and writing reports of his secret missions.
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
Fantasy
|
Sci-fi
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
David Cronenberg
William S. Burroughs (novel)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
David Cronenberg
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: November 11, 2003
Theatrical: December 27, 1991
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
115 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
Canada / UK / Japan |
Genie Awards for Art Direction/Production Design, Cinematography, Direction, Best Motion Picture, Overall Sound, Actress in a Supporting Role (Monique Mercure), and Sound Editing.
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
Chicago Tribune
Dave Kehr
Though much of Naked Lunch is flip, hip and hilariously funny, it never wanders far from a profoundly melancholic undertone - Cronenberg's unshakable sense of loneliness, isolation and anxiety. [10 Jan 1992]
90
Variety
Staff (Not Credited)
Stretching himself with each new work, David Cronenberg has come up with a fascinating, demanding, mordantly funny picture.
80
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
This David Cronenberg masterpiece (1991) breaks every rule in adapting a literary classic - maybe On Naked Lunch would be a more accurate title - but justifies every transgression with its artistry and audacity.
80
Washington Post
Hal Hinson
There's a synergistic overlap here between Cronenberg's own particular brand of weirdness and Burroughs's; they're both twisted in ways that complement each other nicely.
78
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
Ultimately, Naked Lunch is more about the act of writing, while the original is concerned with the phenomenon of addiction. Each does what it does well… but differently.
75
TV Guide
Staff (Not Credited)
A treat for Cronenberg fans, though this could hardly be called a gripping, or emotionally involving, story; you're more likely to need a can of bug spray than a hanky.
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Jay Scott
Paradoxically cerebral and primal, reasonable and anti-rational, life- affirming and nihilistic, Naked Lunch is a sensual and intellectual feast. It will not be a meal to everyone's taste, but in its bizarre class, there is nothing classier. [10 Jan 1992]
70
The New York Times
Janet Maslin
For the most part this is a coolly riveting film and even a darkly entertaining one, at least for audiences with steel nerves, a predisposition toward Mr. Burroughs and a willingness to meet Mr. Cronenberg halfway.
63
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
While I admired it in an abstract way, I felt repelled by the material on a visceral level.
63
USA Today
Mike Clark
Naked Lunch is so well-acted and so amusingly warped that it's a shoo-in to become a cult movie. [30 Dec 1991]
60
Empire
Staff (Not Credited)
Cronenberg's attempt to meld his style with an established writer didnít exactly pan out.
60
Time
Richard Corliss
The movie is way too colorful - cute, in a repulsive way, with its crawly special effects - and tame compared with its source.
50
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
Cronenberg hasn't so much filmed Naked Lunch as tamed it, turned it into entertainment, with oozy rubber bugs, big and little, that look left over from David Lynch's movie of "Dune," or the intergalactic dive from "Star Wars." [10 Jan 1992]
50
Los Angeles Times
Peter Rainer
It's a movie for people who really dig Cronenberg's mulchy fixations-and probably for no one else. [27 Dec 1991]
50
San Francisco Chronicle
Edward Guthmann
Naked Lunch will undoubtedly bring pleasure, much of it perverse, to [David Cronenberg]'s many fans - and, simultaneously, confound and repulse a huge chunk of filmgoers. [10 Jan 1992]
40
Washington Post
Desson Howe
It feels studiously surrealistic, an excuse for cinematic buggery; deep in its center there's a lack of conviction.
 The average user rating for this movie is 7.2 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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