Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out despite the allure of drugs and the influence of friends.
A wild, freeform, Rabelaisian trip through the darkest recesses of Edinburgh low-life, focusing on Mark Renton and his attempt to give up his heroin habit, and how the latter affects his relationship with family and friends: Sean Connery wannabe Sick Boy, dimbulb Spud, psycho Begbie, 14-year-old girlfriend Diane, and clean-cut athlete Tommy, who's never touched drugs but can't help being curious about them...—Michael Brooke <[email protected]>
Renton is an Edinburgh lad with a heroin addiction problem. His best mates are: somewhat dimwitted but good-hearted Spud, also a heroin addict; con man Sick Boy, also a heroin addict who has steadfast opinions on the most renowned British actors; and Tommy, a clean cut athlete who doesn't use. The likelihood of Renton, Spud and/or Sick Boy leading Tommy astray are higher than the other way around as problems in Tommy's life resulting in him wanting to use are more likely than any of Renton, Spud or Sick Boy having a reason to follow Tommy's clean example. Renton, Spud and Sick Boy often use with Allison, the mother of an infant, they, including baby Dawn, congregating in Swanney's drug den. They also need to steal and rob to support their habit, those activities often with the assistance of their criminal acquaintance Begbie, whose violent tendencies can be ignited on the slightest provocation. Despite Renton, Spud and Sick Boy believing there is no better feeling than being high, Renton truly does want to quit using, or so he tells himself. The struggles Renton have in trying to get clean are presented. He may feel that other priorities in his life may help him, such as the love at first sight feelings he has for Diane, who he sees across a nightclub room but who may not be all she appears at first glance. Renton probably realizes that he can never get clean in his current environment, which includes hanging around with Spud, Sick Boy, Begbie, Allison and Swanney, but getting out from their influence may not be as easy as just physically leaving.—Huggo
Heroin addict Mark Renton (McGregor) stumbles through bad ideas and sobriety attempts with his unreliable friends - Sick Boy (Miller), Begbie (Carlyle), Spud (Bremner) and Tommy (Kevin McKidd) and girlfriend Diane (MacDonald) - along for the ride. After cleaning up and moving from Edinburgh to London, Mark finds he can't escape the life he left behind when Begbie shows up at his front door on the lam, and a scheming Sick Boy follows.
The film begins with Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) and Spud (Ewen Bremner) running down Princes Street pursued by security guards. Renton states that unlike people who "choose life" (children, financial stability and material possessions) he has chosen to live as a heroin addict. Renton's close circle of football enthusiast friends are introduced: amoral con artist Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), clean-cut athlete Tommy (Kevin McKidd), simpleminded, good-nature Spud (Ewen Bremner), and violent sociopath Begbie (Robert Carlyle). Sick Boy, Spud and Renton are all heroin addicts and spend their time shooting up at the flat of their drug dealer "Mother Superior" Swanney (Peter Mullan).
After awaking from a heroin induced state, Renton decides to quit heroin. He runs down a laundry list of supplies he'll need and locks himself in a cruddy flat, boarding up the door so he can't leave easily. Realizing he needs one last high, he leaves the flat and buys opium rectal suppositories from Mikey Forrester (Irvine Welsh). He hooks up with his friends sober & he feels that he is missing something. Renton later goes with his friends to a club, finding that his sex drive has returned and eventually leaves with a young woman named Diane (Kelly MacDonald). After sex, Diane refuses to let him sleep in her room and he spends the night on a sofa in the hallway of the flat. In the morning he realizes that Diane is a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl and that her "flat mates" are actually her parents. Horrified, Renton tries to shake the incident but is forced to remain in touch after Diane blackmails him.
Tommy had been dumped by his girlfriend Lizzy after a chain of events initiated by Renton. Renton had stolen one of Tommy and Lizzy's personal sex tapes, hiding it in the case of a football video. Lizzy angrily believed that Tommy had returned their tape to the video store. Sick Boy, Spud and Renton decide to start using heroin again and a brokenhearted Tommy begins using as well, despite Renton's reluctance to get him started. One day the group's heroin-induced stupor at Swanney's flat is violently interrupted when Allison, their friend and fellow addict, discovers that her infant daughter Dawn has died from neglect. All are horrified and grief-stricken especially Sick Boy who is implied to be Dawn's father.
Renton narrates that the infant's death prompts Sick Boy to become even more self-destructive. Sick Boy, Renton and Spud are later caught stealing from a book shop and are pursued by security guards. Only Renton and Spud are caught, as depicted in the opening scene of the film; Sick Boy had slyly hidden and was not arrested. Due to prior convictions Spud goes to prison but Renton avoids punishment by entering a drug intervention program, where he is given Methadone. Despite support from his family Renton is constantly depressed and bored with life and escapes to Swanney's flat where he nearly dies of an overdose (because of the leftover traces of methadone with an injection of heroin; he hallucinates that he's sunk into the red carpeting at Swanney's until ER nurses give him an injection and he recovers). Renton's parents take him home and lock him in his old bedroom so he can beat the addiction cold turkey.
As Renton lies in his bed and goes through severe withdrawal symptoms, he hallucinates Diane singing on the bed (representing his illicit intercourse with her), his friends giving him advice and Allison's dead baby crawling on the ceiling. The heroin withdrawal is inter-cut with a bizarre, imagined TV game show in which host Dale Winton asks Renton's parents questions about HIV. Renton is finally roused from his nightmares and hallucination by his parents who tell him he needs to get tested. Despite years of sharing syringes with other addicts Renton tests negative.
Though clean of heroin, Renton is nevertheless bored and depressed, feeling that his life has no purpose. He visits Tommy in his now dark, filthy flat. Tommy is now a full-on heroin addict and is HIV positive. On Diane's advice, Renton moves to London and starts a job as a property letting agent. He begins to enjoy his new life of sobriety and saves up money on the side while corresponding with Diane. His happiness is again short-lived however.
Begbie commits an armed robbery and arrives at Renton's London flat seeking a hiding place from the police. Sick Boy, who now sees himself as a well-connected pimp and drug pusher also shows up at Renton's doorstep. Renton's "mates" make his life miserable, stealing from him, sharing Renton's bed, trashing his flat. Sick Boy takes Renton's rented television and sells it and asks Renton if he'd like to sell his passport on the black market. Renton places his passport in a station locker for safekeeping. Seeking to rid himself of his slovenly and freeloading friends, he puts them up in a flat he is responsible for, which they use as a base to commit theft. When Renton's supervisor shows the flat to a legitimate couple that may rent it, Sick Boy and Begbie are exposed as squatters and Renton presumably loses his job. They soon learn of Tommy's death from toxoplasmosis and travel back to Edinburgh for his funeral.
Back home, they meet Spud, who has been released from prison. Sick Boy suggests a profitable but dangerous heroin transaction with Mikey Forrester. Sick Boy needs Renton's help to supply half of the initial £4,000 needed to purchase Mikey's supply. Renton injects a dose of heroin to test the purity. He promises himself a final hit on the bus back to London but his strengthened outlook on life keeps him from becoming an addict again. He also mentions that he did it to annoy Begbie, who is nervous and twitchy. The four then sell the heroin to a dealer for £16,000, a tense but smooth transaction.
They go to a pub and celebrate, discussing possible plans for the money. When Sick Boy goes to the men's room and Begbie gathers another round of drinks, Renton suggests to Spud that they both steal the money. Spud is too frightened of Begbie to consider it. Renton, however, believes that neither Sick Boy nor Begbie deserve the cash. Renton's opinion on the idea is sealed when Begbie attacks another patron who bumped him, causing him to spill the beers he'd just picked up. He cuts the man's face with one of the glasses and begins to kick ferociously, eventually drawing his knife. When Spud tries to pull him off, Begbie slashes Spud's hand. Begbie challenges anyone else to take him on; no one is willing.
Early in the morning at their hotel room, as the others sleep, Renton quietly takes the money, Spud sees him leave but does not tell the others. Renton slips out, retrieves his passport and leaves behind a single £2000 bundle in it's place. When Begbie awakens and realizes Renton has stolen the money, he destroys the hotel room in a violent rage which attracts the police, presumably leading to his arrest.
Renton walks through London and vows to live the stable, traditional life he described at the beginning of the film. In the final scene, Spud finds the £2,000 left for him by Renton so he can have a clean start.
