Side Effects (Steven Soderbergh, 2013)

What's it about? Suffering from depression, Emily (Rooney Mara) begins treatment sessions with Dr Banks (Jude Law), who prescribes her some new anti-depressant medicine. But the drugs have - you guessed it - alarming side effects.

Is it any good? Oh it's a slippery one, this one. It will probably work best if you know nothing about it, so off you go.

Oh, you're back? That didn't take long. Okay, still no spoilers here, as far as I can help it. This is a film that suffers a bit from multiple genre disorder, but it's pretty enjoyable nonetheless. At first, it seems like a cautionary tale about Big Pharma and doctors, who have little regard the patient on the receiving end. But just when you think you've got a handle on it, it shifts tone into Hitchcock-esque territory, then really starts to throw in all sorts of twisty-turns as it progresses into the realm of noir-ish paranoia and erotic thriller, by way of courtroom drama. All within 90 mins or so. It's a heady cocktail which is probably a bit too convoluted for its own good and might leave your head spinning. However, it's smartly written and it has the sure hand of Soderbergh at the helm, who handles the material with customary class and who keeps the whole thing from sliding into total disarray.

Anything else I should know? The Fast Picture Show accepts no responsibility for any injury or illness caused during the viewing of this site. Readers may experience side effects including insomnia, vomiting, loss of hearing, psychosis, anal leakage, persistent bleeding, broken limbs, coma and death. Thankfully, seeing moving images is a rare occurrence. If the image below seems to be moving to you, please delete this site from your browsing history and quarantine yourself immediately.

What does the Fonz think? sex, lies and videotape. and drugs.

Buy it on Amazon