Dir Peter Howitt. UK. 2007. 109mins.

There's a limit to how far this film can go, even in a best-case scenario: it's an 18 cert in the UK and for at least half that restricted audience Dangerous Parking will be hate at first sight. For those who tenaciously cling on, however, there is some reward: though at times revolting, this Peter Howitt vehicle is more affecting than the booze- and vomit-fest it first appears.

Carrying a definite whiff of Trainspotting meets Withnail And I, Dangerous Parking's best bet will be as a cult item, with limited UK theatrical and a shot at good ancillary, at least on home turf. Much will depend on marketing, and, cutting to the chase, it could have stood a better chance without Howitt himself taking the lead role (as well as writing, directing and producing what was evidently a passion project).

As Noah Arkwright, a self-destructive (to put it mildly) cult Britfilm director, Howitt is required to drink beyond excess, take drugs, and be vile to everyone he comes in contact with. He is also required to be a babe-magnet, something the fifty-something director of Sliding Doors and Laws Of Attraction can't quite carry off, but presumably Howitt the producer and Howitt the director couldn't see the extent of the problem when Howitt the actor stepped in as a last-minute cast replacement.

Internationally, Dangerous Parking seems to be too much of a UK curio to travel far, although Howitt's winning of the best director at Tokyo last year could suggest it is palatable overseas. On the plus side, it's different and unpolished, bearing none of the over-processed feel of a studio release. On the downside, its hyper-graphic outlook and crude language would seem to restrict its potential stateside.

Based on the posthumously-published cult novel by the late Stuart Browne, the evidently-low-budget Dangerous Parking is told in first-person voiceover flashback. The opening sequence is a lot to get over, but the film's tangled narrative does eventually cough up the fact that Noah is a defiant alcoholic and has been rescued by Kristin (Rachel Stirling), a recovering alcoholic herself and thus able to witness a particularly nauseating vomit sequence in her child's bedroom that some less hardy members of the audience may have trouble with.

We getsequences of Noah and his best friend Ray (Pertwee) indulging in all sorts of excessive behaviour - including a foursome with twins - until an amorous squid puts paid to Ray's participation in Noah's self-destruction (this, it has to be said, is a particularly memorable moment). Cellist Clare (a warm and likable Saffron Burrows) enters the picture; there's a trip to rehab; Morocco; a very funny anecdote about why the film is called Dangerous Parking; and a serious, life-threatening illness which tips the film into Truly, Madly, Deeply territory and is quite movingly-depicted, although it may come a little late for some.

Technical credits speak eloquently of their limited budget. In terms of cast, Burrows' warmth is matched by Tom Conti's witty turn as a fox-hunting oncologist, while Pertwee is charming. Ultimately, however Dangerous Parking is, like its protagonist, difficult to like and to want to spend time with - but rewards the patient viewer.

Production companies

Flaming Pie Films

Velvet Octopus

Corniche Films

Producers

Peter Howitt

Richard Johns

UK distribution

Delanic Films

Int'l sales:

Velvet Octopus

44-0207 287 1900

Scr

Peter Howitt, from the book by Stuart Browne

Cine.

Zoran Veljkovic

Prod design

Lisa Hall

Ed. David Barrett

Cast

Peter Howitt

Saffron Burrows

Sean Pertwee

Rachel Stirling

Alice Evans

Dervla Kirwan

Tom Conti