Dead Babies (2000)

User Rating:

4.5/10   

Director:

William Marsh

Writers:

Martin Amis (novel)
William Marsh (writer)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Residents prime themselves for both a visit from three Americans and a weekend of copious decadence. |

Plot Keywords:

Flatulence | Nudity | Based On Novel

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Paul Bettany	...	Quentin
Katy Carmichael	...	Lucy Littlejohn
Hayley Carr	...	Roxanne
Charlie Condou	...	Giles
Alexandra Gilbreath	...	Cecilia
William Marsh	...	Marvel
Kris Marshall	...	Skip
Andy Nyman	...	Keith
Cristian Solimeno	...	Andy
Olivia Williams	...	Diana
David Soloman	...	Doctor
Lane Lesley	...	Sister
Ashley Portland	...	Orderly
Ann Stewart	...	Nurse
Ambrose	...	Patient

Also Known As:

Mood Swingers (USA) (video title)

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality, drug content, language and violence.

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

Japan:R-18 | UK:18 | USA:R | Finland:K-18

Filming Locations:

Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Civilian Content

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Keith is shown playing a video game (just prior to being the "drug tester"), he is holding a PlayStation 2 controller. However, the game clip shown is actually of the Nintendo 64 game "Perfect Dark".

Fear and Loathing in the Home Counties

'Dead Babies' is perhaps of the shallowest of Martin Amis's novels: a vicious satirical attack on the smart set in 1970s London: wealthy, fashionable, drug-addled, and paranoid, it follows them through a desperate and debauched weekend. The book's tone is flippant, with the strong implication that the characters don't actually deserve any treatment more reverent; while the novel justifies its own existence through the outrageous comedy of its hyperbolic prose. But hyperbolic prose, and drug-fuelled hysteria, are two things hard to capture in film (think Terry Gilliam's disastrous adaptation of 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, for example). In his film of 'Dead Babies', director William Marsh uses the imagery of the modern video game, or pop video (something by the Progidy, perhaps, although this idea is maybe brought to mind merely by the presence of a grotesque character called Keith). This technique is less anachronistic than it might seem, as the setting is also updated to the present day, but unfortunately it's also familiar, and dull, in a way that the book's original prose never was: a collection of gross-out images set to techno. In places, flashes of Amis's humour shine through, but elsewhere the film seems amateurish. Amis's novels have always had a self-awareness that allows their author to get away with excesses that would otherwise be inexcusable; but this movie lacks the faint hint of self-mockery that help redeem the book. Finally, I haven't read the book for ages, but unless my memory is playing tricks on me, the ending was somewhat different the one we get in the film, which is also excessive, but futilely stupid in a way that the original writing never was.

I remain a big fan of Martin Amis, and I suspect that some (but not all) of his other books might potentially make more successful films than this one. But the path to adaptation is strewn with peril. In the case of 'Dead Babies', something is definitely lost in translation.