Naked Lunch

Naked Lunch (1991)

  • 71% of critics liked it
    (34 reviews)

  • 76% of users liked it
    (32,749 ratings)

This cinematic/literary hybrid fuses motifs from Beat writer William S. Burroughs's novel of the same name with elements of the author's biography and plenty of the cerebral alienation and biomorphic special effects fans of creepy cult director David Cronenberg have come to expect. Bill Lee… More

Play Trailer

R,
Directed By
Written By
David Cronenberg
Genres
Drama, Horror, Special Interest
In Theaters
Dec 27, 1991 Wide
On DVD
Nov 11, 2003
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

Critic Reviews

  • Eric Melin, Scene-Stealers.com

    A challenge if you're expecting a forward-moving plot but there's also more than enough pitch-black humor and straight-faced madness to lighten the mood, especially since Burroughs' strange lingo and vicious knack for language are intact.

  • Chris Sawin, Examiner.com

    If you've yet to purchase this incredible mind-trip involving bug powder, Brazilian centipedes, typewriters turning into giant insects, and bumping into Mugwumps in bars then the Blu-ray release is well worth your hard earned money.

  • Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com

    ...very nearly accomplishes the book's goal of "extinguishing all rational thought."

  • Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

    a respectful fugue on Burroughs' life and art ... It can be forgiven its acolyte's soul, for it is willing ...to confront Burroughs' signature themes of addiction and control, and to meld them into ... an evocation of the master.

  • Urban Cinefile Critics, Urban Cinefile

    This is the only film in which a typewriter beetle kills another typewriter beetle for being a secret agent. I mention it only because of the relevance of the written word, and typewriters %u2013 portable ones in this case %u2013 are the medium of the mes

Read all 17 critic reviews

See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Spencer S


    A surrealist film from the debonair auteur with a flair for the unsettling: David Cronenberg. Adapted from the William S. Burroughs novel and starring the eccentric yet keen Peter Weller, there is a fine line between utmost devotion and utter loathing for this film. For me it… More

  • Melvin W


    Bill Lee: America is not a young land. It is old and dirty, evil. Before the settlers, before the Indians, the evil is there, waiting.  "Exterminate all rational thought." Beyond bizarre. So far beyond bizarre that it's hard to organize my thoughts about what I have… More

  • Graham J


    Adapting an unadaptable book, Cronenberg works weird Sci-Fi magic with this strange movie experience.

  • Devon B


    "It's a literary high. It's a kafka high, you feel like a bug". So says Joan Lee, who has adopted the new and interesting drug habit of shooting up her exterminator husband Bill's bug poison. Not too much later, Bill accidentally shoots his wife in the head… More

  • Matthew R


    David Cronenberg's film adaptation of William S. Burroughs' novel Naked Lunch is so unwatchable, so shocking, so unnerving I consider it not only a film worthy of all of its hype, but also the polar opposite or antagonist of the book and Terry Gilliam film adaptation of… More

Read all 20 featured audience ratings

Currently unavailable on Flixster

Also available on

Other Retailers

Not Available
Not Available
Not Available

Subscription Services

Not Available
Not Available
Not Available

Cast

See more (26)

Trailers & Clips