Parents' Guide to

Filth

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 18+

Extreme sex, booze, drugs, swearing in crooked-cop story.

Movie R 2014 97 minutes
Filth Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 18+

Based on 1 parent review

slasher23
slasher23 Adult
August 16, 2014
age 18+
Not for kids

This title has:

Too much sex
Too much swearing
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
See all 1 parent review

What's the Story?

In Edinburgh, detective sergeant Bruce Robertson (James McAvoy) looks forward to getting a promotion, knowing he's the best man for the job. His loving wife agrees. Everything seems great until Bruce is assigned to investigate the murder of a Japanese student, and his life starts coming unraveled. He can't seem to stop scheming, such as making obscene phone calls to the wife (Shirley Henderson) of a close friend (Eddie Marsan) and disparaging the manhood of a rookie cop (Jamie Bell). He increases his drinking, drugs, and illicit sex and starts hallucinating. Before long it becomes apparent that nothing in Bruce's world is quite as it seems. Can Bruce come to terms with the source of his pain before it's too late?

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1):
Kids say (2):

Adapted from a novel by Irvine Welsh, FILTH belongs to a subgenre that pushes the limits of character behavior. In The Wolf of Wall Street and Dom Hemingway -- which fall in the same subgenre -- the main characters indulge in debauchery of every kind, which provides vicarious fun for viewers and is certainly great fun for the actors. Here, McAvoy similarly gives it his all, fearless, energetic, and lunatic. (He starts by snatching a child's balloon and firing off two middle finger gestures.)

A colorful roster of somewhat cartoonish supporting characters helps set the mood, ranging from Jim Broadbent's creepy psychiatrist to Henderson's purring housewife. When the movie sticks to this plan, it works, but eventually it comes to a kind of twist that feels like a small betrayal. A main character like this requires total honesty; he needs to reveal everything. Unlike other movies based on Welsh's works (Trainspotting, The Acid House), the world of Filth is too limiting to contain its characters. It needs a bit more style.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the main character's horrible behavior. Is it fun to watch, or is it disturbing? Is the character having fun? Is the actor having fun?

  • How does Filth compare to The Wolf of Wall Street and Dom Hemingway? Do theses movies encourage or reward characters' bad behavior? What message does that send?

  • Why does the main character take so many drugs and smoke and drink so much? Does he enjoy these things, or is he using them to deal with problems? How?

  • How does the movie portray sex? How are the main character's encounters/habits hurtful to himself and others?

Movie Details

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