This movie came off as pretty bizarre. Horny young man falls madly in love with dumb but hot girl after being introduced to her by Christian Slater, playing his usual role as a second rate version of Jack Nicholson. Without getting into the strange plot which seems to make no sense at all, suffice it to say that its strangeness can be explained after reading the book. The plot of the book is a potboiler aimed at Victorian audiences who no doubt were shocked by the sexual innuendos (way too subtle for a modern audience) and is also bizarre but much less so than the movie which has adapted it presumably for more liberated modern audiences and in doing so makes it stupid stupid stupid. And strips it of any depth or complexity that the book has. The liberties taken with the book are astounding -- and my question is WHY was this movie made?????
Review of Basil
