Based on the novel by William Burroughs, Naked Lunch was an attempt by Canadian director David Cronenberg to bring some logic to the plot of this book. He came up with this: basically, this guy Bill, a writer wannabe, works as a bug exterminator. He uses bug powder to kill them. This powder causes addiction and his wife has a severe case of bug powder addiction. It turns out Bill is in reality a secret agent for someone we never get to see. He gets the order to travel to Interzone, a place (it looks like downtown Cairo) somewhere in Northern Africa where junkies are gathered and live together. Throughout the film he is always typing reports, and in various scenes the typewritter becomes a huge bug which gives Bill the preliminaries on his next assignment. Once he gets to Interzone, he is persuaded by his "typewriter" to become homosexual.
As strange as this may sound, the movie is actually much easier to understand than the novel. The novel has no structured plot whatsoever. Every chapter deals with different situations. However, the problem with drug addiction and hallucinations is a subject that comes up throughout the book. The movie can also be seen as a kind of autobiography, since William Burroughs travelled to Northern Africa. During his many voyages he would write some chapters of his books. Naked Lunch is actually a compilation made by Burrough's editor of several chapters written during a long period of time.
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