Here are the Young Men offers a hallucinogenic snapshot of toxic masculinity in three school graduates' booze-induced and pill-popping summer in Celtic Tiger Dublin. Unfortunately, its contrived plot will leave viewers with an empty high.
Adapted from Rob Doyle's acclaimed novel of the same name, the stars of the drug-fuelled frolic are: Rez (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo), the long-haired sensitive druggy; Joe Kearney (Finn Cole), a manipulative and sadistic tyrant; and Matthew (Dean-Charles Chapman), mopey and aimless as he tries to find his moral compass.
The destructive trio’s angst is pushed to extremes after a tragic event halts their summer bonanza, and the ensuing scenes are not nearly as profound as they want to be.
As the script attempts to master the callous caste system of teenage social politics, it boasts its share of teens-in-peril clichés.
After 95 minutes of watching the gang getting wasted at clubs and raves - all while realising that they don't have much in common with each other - the film becomes formless and flat.
Here are the Young Men's big screen outing takes viewers on a fairly predictable trip but when it comes to injecting the narrative flair of Rob Doyle's 2014 novel, it lacks substance.
