The Acid House

His storylines aren't dazzling; his insights are often pedestrian; his characters skirt familiar Scottish stereotypes. But it's the alchemy of Irving Welsh's prose style that makes this crap sparkle. No surprise, then, that movie adaptations of his work fall short. Trainspotting had its moments. This latest -- from a book of short stories by the same name -- tends to highlight Welsh's shortcomings rather than his virtues.

Take "The Granton Star Cause" -- the first of the film's three vignettes. Boab Coyle (Stephen McCole) is having a bad day: he loses his place on the local soccer team, his girl dumps him, his parents kick him out, he loses his job, and he gets a visit from a petty, vengeful deity who turns him into a fly. The tale quickly descends into second-rate Kafka.

The second story -- the deliciously cynical "A Soft Touch" -- stays closer to familiar Welsh territory: the degradation of Scottish slum life and the romantic poisoning that occurs therein. This is an improvement. But it is in the third part-- "The Acid House" -- that the film finally flies. This segment spins (literally) the trippy tale of Coco Bryce (Ewen Bremner), an Edinburgh tough who overdoes the drugs one night, with horribly surreal results. Here director Paul McGuigan uses his camera in much the same way Welsh uses words, drenching grim subject matter in washes of color and humor. With its stunningly realistic depiction of a bad acid trip (a soundtrack boasting the Chemical Brothers helps), The Acid House will have you curling your toes, but at least this time it won't be from embarrassment.

-- Chris Wright