The Beach (2000)

When the Boyle/Macdonald /Hodge crew turned Irvine Welsh's cult-hit Trainspotting into a hugely celebrated multiplex-packer, they deftly proved that you can adapt an "unfilmable" book - and make the resulting movie a huge success. The Beach is their second attempt at adaptation, but the difference is Alex Garland's tropical thriller was always eminently filmable, given the twentysomething scribbler's undeniably cinematic prose. Which is why it's so surprising that The Beach isn't... well... really that great.

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