Jon S. Baird's manic adaptation of Irvine Welsh's novel maintains a constant high for much of its 97 head-spinning minutes before it sets up into a confrontation between a broken man and his personal demons.

| Jan 22, 2022

Although it often stumbles into gaudily hedonistic mud-rolling, Jon S. Baird's film boasts a bold tone, sharp dialogue and a towering performance from James McAvoy.

| Feb 13, 2020

The vomitous, lingering ill effects of Filth will stay with you for a long long time.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Feb 13, 2020

Despite the crassness, the degradation, and various other offensive counts that rightfully earns the story title, there's an undeniably enduring quality to Baird's adaptation.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 30, 2019

Somehow, though, the film itself becomes like a drug, and seeing it and the lead character's personal journey through to the end becomes like a compulsion.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 2, 2019

It's a transgressive, transcendent jumble that takes you on an extraordinary journey at a breakneck pace, though it's one that may leave audiences divided.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 7, 2019

James McAvoy has pulled off a performance so searing and intense that he manages to imbue this drug-addicted, racist sociopath with just enough vulnerability to make the movie work.

| Mar 6, 2019

There is a grotesque whimsy in Filth that calls to mind the delicious dark humour of American Psycho and Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 11, 2018

James McAvoy's genuinely great performance is the only thing worth watching, but other than that there isn't much more to it.

| Original Score: 4/10 | Nov 1, 2018

Filth is ghastly and unpleasant, but also kind of brilliant, and therein lies both the reward and the rub.

| Sep 5, 2018

"Filth" does not pack the memorable visual punch of Welsh's far more famous book to movie adaptation, "Trainspotting," but McAvoy's performance is on par with any from that seminal work.

| Aug 22, 2018

May not be for everyone, but it's worth investing in if only to see McAvoy validate himself as one of the best British actors currently working.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 13, 2018

This is a shonky adaptation in which nothing hangs together.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 6, 2018

[James] McAvoy is sensational - utterly convincing as the manipulative bully who's racist, sexist and practically every other kind of 'ist' you can think of, while managing to elicit sympathy during rare moments of humanity.

| Sep 6, 2017

Filth is a flawed but ultimately engaging and harrowing bit of moral theater.

| Original Score: B- | Jun 6, 2016

After all is said and done, the director and main actor still manage to create a measure of sympathy for this almost-Machiavellian character because we've also caught a glimpse of the man underneath the coke-snorting, whisky-drinking bigot.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 4, 2016

Walks on a thin line between grotesque entertainment, perversion and the inestability of its main character, in a middle point between a dark comedy and a masoquistic fantasy. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 27, 2015

Captures perfectly and expands on the colorful but pessimist junkie pop lover style set by Fight Club and Trainspotting in a modern time. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 4/4 | Nov 26, 2015

This is one of those movies where much of the non-Scottish audience would need subtitles and a Scottish slang dictionary. It is brimming with profanity and explicit sex scenes and an amazing performance by James McAvoy.

| Original Score: C+ | Dec 24, 2014

Crude comedy.

| Original Score: C+ | Dec 12, 2014