(Spoilers ahead)
"Spun" is a huge mess. While I was willing to give the movie some credit and suspend my disbelief from the get-go, the sloppy directorial work of Jonas Akerlund makes it just impossible. No wonder the movie feels as a bunch of MTV music videos put together. The narrative is lacking, and the empathy with any of the characters makes the experience even more tolerable. Also, I should point out that at times Akerlund plainly rips off effects and styles of "Requiem for a Dream", but fails tremendously at putting them in context. They seem gratuitous and pointless. Half way through the flick, the tempo of the movie starts quickly decaying, and everything in it just feels tired, boring and repetitious. In the end, the movie just takes you nowhere.
The acting is fairly sub-par, with some honorable exceptions (Leguizamo and Rourke being the most believable of the bunch), and the long list of cameos is just surprising for a movie this bad. Mena Suvary should just simply sue her agent for getting her this terrible role. Also, I know these days every two-bit director feels the imperious need to gross out the audience and "push the limits" of taste, but did we really need to see Mena Suvary taking a dump in all luxury of details? I didn't think so.
The best example of how bad this movie can get is in the two drug enforcement cops. There are circus clowns and street mimes out there that bring more substance to their characters than these two.
There are interesting parts of the movie, and it certainly had the potential to be an interesting story, at the very least. Unfortunately it just feels like one expensive collection of music videos strung together by some intertwining stories that seem more incoherent and unbelievable as the movie progresses. As I said, there's a "good" movie hidden somewhere in there, under layers of pointless effects, bad acting, worst directing, and poorly strung together storylines. In total, I give "Spun" a 4/10.
There are other movies out there that do a much better job at portraying this difficult topic: the aforementioned "Requiem for a Dream," "Drugstore Cowboy," "My Own Private Idaho," or "Trainspotting."
"Spun" is a huge mess. While I was willing to give the movie some credit and suspend my disbelief from the get-go, the sloppy directorial work of Jonas Akerlund makes it just impossible. No wonder the movie feels as a bunch of MTV music videos put together. The narrative is lacking, and the empathy with any of the characters makes the experience even more tolerable. Also, I should point out that at times Akerlund plainly rips off effects and styles of "Requiem for a Dream", but fails tremendously at putting them in context. They seem gratuitous and pointless. Half way through the flick, the tempo of the movie starts quickly decaying, and everything in it just feels tired, boring and repetitious. In the end, the movie just takes you nowhere.
The acting is fairly sub-par, with some honorable exceptions (Leguizamo and Rourke being the most believable of the bunch), and the long list of cameos is just surprising for a movie this bad. Mena Suvary should just simply sue her agent for getting her this terrible role. Also, I know these days every two-bit director feels the imperious need to gross out the audience and "push the limits" of taste, but did we really need to see Mena Suvary taking a dump in all luxury of details? I didn't think so.
The best example of how bad this movie can get is in the two drug enforcement cops. There are circus clowns and street mimes out there that bring more substance to their characters than these two.
There are interesting parts of the movie, and it certainly had the potential to be an interesting story, at the very least. Unfortunately it just feels like one expensive collection of music videos strung together by some intertwining stories that seem more incoherent and unbelievable as the movie progresses. As I said, there's a "good" movie hidden somewhere in there, under layers of pointless effects, bad acting, worst directing, and poorly strung together storylines. In total, I give "Spun" a 4/10.
There are other movies out there that do a much better job at portraying this difficult topic: the aforementioned "Requiem for a Dream," "Drugstore Cowboy," "My Own Private Idaho," or "Trainspotting."