I'm an old guy. I'm also a movie fan with an open mind. This is one of those films that is often referred to by critics as being very important. When I read the description of it, my first reactions was to totally avoid it. But it has in it some really great actors and I've been taken with the guy from Elementary. Well, was I surprised. While it was hard to watch as these young men dropped into the depths of addiction, I began to be fascinated by them. They were individuals who had aspirations and lives; they were good and bad. But were continually brought down by their mistakes. Those who say this glorifies drugs have totally missed the point.

Trainspotting is a magnetic, exhilarating, repulsive film based in a seedy underbelly of Edinburgh. Thieves, drug addicts and a violent type of underclass live in doss houses with babies crawling round innocently unaware of the dangers they face.

Renton (Ewan McGregor) is a heroin addict living day to day, stealing and looking for that hit. It is an empty life and he realises he needs to kick the habit but each time he tries to get off heroin something drags him back.

Renton experiences the high side of heroin but he knows the low side is too high a price to pay. His friends and associates are making it difficult for him to stay clean.

Director Danny Boyle infused the film with a kinetic energy helped by its soundtrack. It is trippy, disjointed, hip even amoral in places. Despite its cool reputation it shows the ugliness of addiction. Especially with the character of Tommy who is a fitness fanatic and clean but turns to drugs when his girlfriend leaves him and he dies a horrible death.

Like the movie A Clockwork Orange the film is driven by the narration of its central character which keeps the story together and brings out the dark humour.

I only saw the film for the first time twenty years after its cinema release and was impressed how well it has stood up to the test of time.

"Trainspotting" is currently #154 on IMDb's Top 250 list. As an insane film buff, I have been trying to watch as many of the movies from the list as possible and have seen about 235 of them However, now the ones I have left to watch are mostly films I normally would have no interest in seeing--so at the outset, I am not the most favorably disposed person towards this film. After all, I don't have a lot of interest in seeing a film about a bunch of loser heroin addicts--and that is the theme of "Trainspotting".

Some who watched this film felt it was a comedy--I noticed this when reading through the reviews. However, I really didn't find this film funny nor do I think most would think it funny. I guess my definition of funny isn't watching people injecting heroin, babies dying of neglect and people crapping themselves. You'll see this and much more in this film about sad and impossible to like guys. And that is why I simply hated the film. While director Danny Boyle did a good job of making it all seem realistic, the film was so repellent that I can't understand its popular appeal. And now that I finished watching it, I am thinking twice about my crazy notion of seeing all 250. Gross and unappealing.