Set in Brazil, three trash-picking boys from Rios slums find a wallet in among the daily detritus of their local dump, little do they imagine that their lives are about to change forever. But when the local police show up, offering a handsome reward for the wallets return, the boys realize that what they have found must be important.
Obviously, its heart is in the right place, and one can only hope the story and characters read better in Mulligan's book, but as far as "Trash" the film is concerned, the result is disposable.
Trash is a step up from Extremely Loud's cloying 9/11 exploitation simply by virtue of not being one of the most appalling movies ever made. It's still pretty crummy, though.
Trash gets hung up on the "teaching" part-looking to inform the well-off about the struggles of Rio slum-dwellers-and for too long forgets that Mulligan's novel provided a pretty good plot.
The Richard Curtis script has Rooney Mara and Martin Sheen running about Rio evading cliched baddies - and they are outshone by the wonderfully energetic young trio, who turn muck into brass.