Beautiful Thing

Rating:
Summary: Anyone fallen in love?
Review: Beautiful Thing is a sensitive and honest, if not dreamy, love story that allows the actors full range of human emotion, while drawing the audience into the hearts of the characters, letting us see their needs, and thus our own needs, while also letting us laugh on the road towards self-realization. A splendid film that shouldn't be missed by anyone.

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Summary: The fairy tale came true!
Review: Beautiful Thing is absolutely beautiful. Despite the fact that everything in the film is so fairy-tale-like that one might wonder if that can really happen, it makes us feel content. Highly recommended to teenagers who are about to find the way out.

Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: Beautiful Thing is definately not what I expected! This film tells a different story than most of your gay films today. This is a beautiful coming of age story, where relationships are focused on, and not tragedies - as in most gay cinema today. To the powers that be at Amazon and Sony: We need a DVD version soon!

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Summary: Beautiful Thing is just simply Beautiful
Review: Beautiful Thing is one of those rare movies that come along that you want to tell everyone to see. Wonderful written, acted, directed, and filmed, it really moves you to see the love that devlops between these two boys, despite all the obstacles. It's a love story that almost all can relate to, either gay or not. It's just an incredible, incredible movie, which can bring tears to your eyes (especially the final courtyard scene). I also should mention the humour in it as well. Very funny momments and lines in at as well. The soundtrack with Mama Cass and The Moma's & The Popa's is excellent as well, and is a must have, just like the video. To close, Beautiful Thing is a movie you must see and experience, which shows how beautiful and powerful love is between any two people. I just can't say enough about it.

Rating:
Summary: A fine little film with few peers for the genre
Review: BEAUTIFUL THING may be almost ten years old but the simplicity and honesty of the approach of a gay coming-out film is still hard to match. Director Hettie MacDonald has gathered a group of actors so fresh and real that the story seems more like eavesdropping than a movie.

Jamie (Glen Barrie) lives with his mum Sandra (Linda Henry), a blowsy, tacky, loud but heart of gold waitress, in a housing project. Jamie plays soccer and does all the right things - except he is a closeted gay lad who is forced to come to grips with that fact. He falls in love with Ste (Scott Neal) who lives next door to Jamie's flat and is regularly beaten by his father and brother. How these two come together and eventually move into the world more acquainted with their sexuality and its complexities forms the storyline.

The actors are all superb, including Sandra's boyfriend du jour Tony (Ben Daniels) and the hilarious Leah (Tameka Empson). But the performance by Linda Henry is a stand out: she finds the love in this brazen woman and allows it to surface. Likewise Glen Barrie's Jamie is wholly and palpably believeable.

If there is a fault with this film it is in the dialect of this London suburb: turn on the English subtitles so that you can understand what is being said! Grady Harp, January 2005

Rating:
Summary: SWEET, FRESH, DELIGHTFUL
Review: Beautiful Thing surprises at every turn -- it features a story about coming-of-age homosexuality in working-class England, and does so in the most disarming way -- it is irresistable as set to the infectiously fabulous songs of Mama Cass (who by the way finally got a well-deserved Renaissance/comeback via this movie). Linda Henry should have won an Oscar for her living, breathing portrayal as the comically fierce and yet tender mom. The movie delicately explores the longings and lust of two fresh-faced and utterly charming boys in the sunniest and most amusing, yet touching way -- never does the movie ever go to a sleazy place. This movie makes the early stirrings of homosexual boys as natural as growing up -- and therefore retains its all-powerful sense of innocence. It is absolute must viewing for anyone who has ever gone through the coming-out process, on either side of the fence -- and I think would be an excellent educational tool for anyone with less-than-tolerance on their minds. This movie celebrates love and acts like a sunny tonic -- you will feel refreshed and fulfilled as it winds towards its swirling and tuneful finale.

Rating:
Summary: Possibly THE greatest film to pass through my VCR.
Review: Beautiful Thing takes all the experiences of gay adolescence and combines them into a collection of innocence and emotional warmth. It is the best gay-themed film ever.

Rating:
Summary: Powerful and heartwarming...a masterpiece.
Review: Beautiful thing was wonderful in so many ways...it portrayed a loving relationship between two boys, without getting caught up in just the sexual part of the romance. The characters had depth, the plot complexity. This is a wonderful movie for people of all ages, all sexual orientations, and all walks of life...truly, a "beautiful thing."

Rating:
Summary: The title says it all...
Review: Because this was one of the first gay-themed movies I ever saw it will always have a special place in my heart. It is truly a great movie. The story of two young people falling in love is nothing original, but what makes this story extraordinary is that it is two young men falling in love and how that fact affects their relationship. The setting of working class London adds to their difficulty in coming out and makes the end even more moving. I generally find the British to have superior acting skills and this is no exception. Gay or straight, Beautiful Thing is an entertaining heart-warming movie.

Rating:
Summary: I LOVE THIS MOVIE!
Review: Being a 20 year old straight male, you would think a movie like this could'nt possibly interest me - THINK AGAIN! I happened to be at my brothers home (yes, he's gay) and he asked me to watch this film and give him an opinion on whether or not to show it to our parents. I did not know what I was in for. This film had me glued to the couch - in the same way Krazy Glue suspended that man from the skyscraper by his safety helmet. This movie made such an impression on me, it took time to sink in that this was a love story involving 2 young men. Immidiately, I purchased the home video. To the powers that be: I hope there is a DVD version soon!