Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
A bigoted junkie cop suffering from borderline personality disorder and drug addiction manipulates and hallucinates his way in a bid to secure promotion.
James McAvoy delivers a tour-de-force performance as Bruce Robertson, carrying the film almost entirely on his shoulders and earning a well-above-average acting score. The film is genuinely distinctive — a bracingly nihilistic, darkly comedic descent into the psyche of a truly repugnant protagonist, with a gonzo energy and Edinburgh grime that make it feel singular among British crime-comedies, justifying a high Novelty. The plot, while faithfully adapted from Irvine Welsh's novel, is more of a chaotic character study than a tightly constructed narrative, landing it at above-average but not exceptional. Cinematography is competent and stylistically appropriate — the hallucinatory sequences add flair — but not groundbreaking. The ending, which pivots into surprisingly genuine tragedy, is effective but divisive and slightly rushed in its emotional payoff.