BEATNIKS

The healthy lusts of an aimless young woman do battle with the overwrought imaginations of two young men who would be guardians of the Beat movement.

Mid-’90s suburban London is the setting, but “Jack” and “Neal” pine for midcentury America and the days of Kerouac and Cassidy in whose honor they have shed their baptismal names. Litt (Corpsing, 2001, etc.) cheekily narrates as the smart but rather at loose ends Mary, who, like Neal and Jack still lives at home despite being well past school age. Encountering the lads at what she thought would be a party, Mary stumbles into their meditation session and quickly develops a huge crush on handsome Jack while Neal gets a huge crush on her. She also makes a firm enemy of Maggie, current top chick in this tiny Beatnik revival movement. Mary, far from keen on the ’50s hipster business, is nevertheless willing to join the scene if it means being near Jack. The rules are, however, tricky and a little tiresome. Jack insists on conducting their lives as if the ’50s were still ticking, reading nothing other than the Beat canon, and even writing in that style. Soon, though, Mary realizes it is Neal who can really write. Jack does the usual Tortured Young Man stuff that morphs into wretched garage rock. She also realizes that if she’s ever to loosen Maggie’s death grip on Jack, she’ll need to capitalize on Neal’s affection for her. Which, with semi-honorable reluctance, she does. And then things get really tricky. As the only one with the use of a car, Mary is pleased to transport the lot to Brighton, where they will work on their newspaper and on the works of Otto Lang, a dead Beat poet. Maggie, furious at Mary’s participation, bails out, leaving the field clear. But the route to Jack’s loins is traveled with trusty Neal alongside all the way. Say, weren’t Kerouac and Cassidy. . . ?

The boys are almost too silly to believe, but Mary’s an excellent guide on the faintly ridiculous road that leads eventually to San Francisco.