Add your email and we'll match picks to the services you stream at home.

Poster for Naked Lunch

Naked Lunch

1991 | 115 min | Crime, Drama

Sunday Safe Bet

Why it’s a Sunday Safe Bet

It's still drawing plenty of interest. A safe bet when you want something reliable.

Based on critics, audiences, awards, box office and buzz. Details below.

Is it for you?

Who'll love it: Made for crime-drama fans. If you loved Layer Cake or Blue Velvet, start here.
The mood: Dark and gritty.
The pace: Takes its time with its characters, at 1 hr 55 min.
What might put you off: Rated R: expect drug use.

Blank-faced bug killer Bill Lee and his dead-eyed wife, Joan, like to get high on Bill's pest poisons while lounging with Beat poet pals. After meeting the devilish Dr. Benway, Bill gets a drug made from a centipede. Upon indulging, he accidentally kills Joan, takes orders from his typewriter-turned-cockroach, ends up in a constantly mutating Mediterranean city and learns that his hip friends have published his work -- which he doesn't remember writing.

How it earned its rating

CriticsSolid
69% on Rotten Tomatoes, 67 on Metacritic
AudiencesSolid
7.0 out of 10
AwardsSolid
13 wins and 3 nominations from smaller awards and festivals
Box office & staying powerSolid
$17 million worldwide on a $16 million budget; still draws a steady audience long after release
Buzz & cultural impactStrong
About 199K people sought it out in the past year

Trailer

More like this

Want more like this, picked just for you? Get my picks

Cast & crew

Directed by David Cronenberg

Peter WellerBill Lee
Judy DavisJoan Frost
Ian HolmTom Frost
Julian SandsYves Cloquet
Roy ScheiderDr. Benway
Monique MercureFadela
Nicholas CampbellHank
Michael ZelnikerMartin
Robert A. SilvermanHans
Joseph ScorenKiki