hyped garbage

Good movie but grossly overrated

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

To say this movie is about only alcoholism is losing the point. It's about growing up in a world of alcoholism. The best example is when the young boy is sitting in the room with his parents and they are clutching their alcoholic drinks and are covered with cobwebs. His parents aren't there. Sure they are there physically but the are lost in their own drunken worlds. And here is a young confused boy who needs guidance and knowledge of the world. Meanwhile his parents are off drinking and neglecting him in plain sight. So the rest of his years he struggles to define what it is to be normal, what is it to be in love, why people lie and act fake. His argument with the acting professor is not only about acting but it's a young boy as man trying to figure out why people are always acting and faking things.He struggles to express himself and his emotions. And he models the behavior of his parents and turns to alcohol himself. He has no model of love from a philandering alcoholic father so he struggles with love too.In short this is about being a child of alcohol and becoming one yourself, because the only thing you can remember from childhood is your parents covered in cobwebs clutching their own drinks.I can see why this movie isn't rated as high as it should be. The accents are thick for your average American and you may need closed captioning to make out some of the dialog.

You can often tell a movie didn't turn out like it should by the heavy use of a narrator. This film features this device throughout. Richard Jobson not entirely content to write direct and even fund some of this film adds to his credits by reading excerpts of his own semi- autobiographical writing which combined with some pretty editing manages to gloss over what is a dull depressing tale which he must be mistaking for genuine art-house. Kevin McKidd puts in a good performance. Everyone else is okay.Budget constraints meant that all scenes are shot in daylight though most are obviously meant to be at night, though if you know serious alcoholics they mainly operate in the day so for me it adds a touch of realism.The funniest part of this film is a waitress who fails to age a single day in the 20 odd years that elapse between her appearances - a more extreme version of the problem McKidd has who goes from 18 to 30 without changing more than his clothes. Bless.

"Sixteen Years of Alcohol" is a beautiful parable about a Scottish man who grew up into human society's trap of alcoholism and violence. A boisterous, loud-mouthed wannabe droog, the main character (excellently played)'s short, tragic life is recounted in flashback. Beautifully shot, this Scottish film has not received enough critical praise for its very artistic take on the self-destructive lives we all lead. The soundtrack is haunting and mesmerizing, the performances well-staged and inspired. The title card of the American DVD reads "A Clockwork Orange meets Trainspotting"; while this film parodies the former, it runs much closer to the latter in its themes of self-destruction and isolation. "Sixteen Years..." is a great meditation on human frailty.

If I gave out Oscars, this film would collect them all !If I was nitpicking, I would say the dialogue was the best part ( but only by a little)I wonder if it will be as good on the second viewing ? Maybe I won't watch it again, cos it was so perfect !!Ian.p.s. whats this crap about minimum 10 lines ????Should I pad it out with nonsense ?? Should I go on about the beautiful soundtrack ? Shouls I go on about the wonderful camera work ? what a hassle to post a comment !!!!