The most notable humour in T.C. Boyle's Greasy Lake is the assumed "badness" of the protagonist and his two friends. These nineteen year old Ivy League boys drive their parent's station wagons to various bars, drink as much as they like, and return with the morning light to their parents' homes. Yeah, these boys are bad.
Damien Harris makes a valiant attempt to recreate Boyle's ironic detachment on film, but overall it falls short. Greasy Lake the short story is told in retrospect as an adult looks back on his more wild years. Therefore, it is difficult for an actor to properly portray these thoughts in the correct way. Harris' use of voice-over helps bring in some of Boyle's intent but a movie with a constant voice over (which would be necessary to be entirely true to Boyle) would be a headache to watch. The scene that was the most disappointing to watch was when the protagonist found Al's body in the lake. Boyle's writing is deliciously frightened, and it is easy to be drawn into the terror. Recreated on film the scene becomes just a shadow of what Boyle wrote, the voice-over had no grasp on the stuttered thoughts of this nineteen year old boy.
At face value, yes this film is true to the short story. But it lacks several small nuances that has placed Greasy Lake in English classes across the United States. One reads the story and understands that it is a parody, a farce, laughter in the face of those who try to be something they are not. But it is difficult to get the same feeling when the film creates a more serious situation. A noble attempt Harris, but I'll read Boyle's Greasy Lake over watching yours any day.
