My Beautiful Laundrette

This film had been sitting in our DVD collection for years before i watched it. now i regret doing so! the most boring hour and half of my life. The story line was pointless, the acting was appalling and some bits of the film were just so unnecessary. The whole film felt like it was written for a school play by students who haven't got a choice but want to be taken as a more "mature" acting (this is relevant to the context of the storyline) There was no intimacy between any of the characters and i don't understand how they suddenly went from old school friends to taking their clothes off. And the fight scene right at the end just topped it off. almost felt like a playground fight with other children just watching, shouting encouragement to the two fighting. I would avoid purchasing and watching this film because its just so awful.

Maybe it's the fact that the film's very British and very eighties but how can this possibly score 6.9 whereas tripe like Good Will Hunting gets 8? Sometimes I despair at the reviewers on here. Anyway, back to the film. Omar (Gordon Warnecke) is a young Asian guy who goes to work for his Thatcherite uncle (Saeed Jaffrey). His ambition is to renovate his uncle's run-down laundrette. He gets in his white mate Johnny (Daniel Day Lewis) to give him a hand and the two guys fall in love. My Beautiful Laundrette completely encapsulates the zeitgeist of 1980's Britain, tackling everything from racial tension, immigration, generation differences, class differences, Thatcherism and homosexuality. I say 'tackle'- it's presented but the viewer is allowed to make their own minds up. This is primarily a coming-of-age film and on that level it can appeal to everyone. As for the arguments that you can only like this film if you fit into one of the criteria portrayed here or the period it was set in, they're completely ridiculous. So, we can only like Schindler's List if we're a Nazi or a Jew and were alive in the forties? Come on people. The only criteria I fit in with this film is that I live in Britain- not even London, where the film's set. What a lot of people dislike about the film is that it portrays a lot of the tensions happening in Britain but it does so on a very human level. No character is just a victim of the state. It's a light romantic comedy that lets us see the violence and racism but doesn't linger, making it more powerful when things do happen. As for the relationship between Omar and Johnny, it's portrayed very tenderly (and very sexily, though tasteful). What is rare for a 'gay film'- a label given to any film that has gay characters in- is that the characters aren't tortured over their sexuality or punished. It's just portrayed as a normal loving relationship and the two actors- both straight- are very convincing. Now Daniel Day Lewis has bagged his third Oscar, breaking the record for Best Actor, how does he fare in a very early film in his career? I really enjoyed his performance- you can see there's something about him, even at this age. His facial structure is outstanding- he looks very striking. And there's none of the mannerisms you might expect from an actor destined to do well. He comes across as a fresh talent- which he was.

Seriously, I can't believe my eyes. This film has received an average vote of 7 out of 10!?!? I was in the cinema tonight, watching this movie at the Gay & Lesbian film festival with my boyfriend and two friends, and this was WITHOUT EXCEPTION THE WORST MOVIE I'VE EVER SEEN! Why? For the following reasons: 1. The STORY - or lack of same - is HORRIBLE. Not just bad, but horrible. Someone should have told the author that when you write a story you need to: a) Have something on your mind that you want to tell the reader/receiver; b) have a red line in the movie that connects the scenes, persons and events; and c) reach a conclusion in the end of the story. Unfortunately, story has neither. The events are totally rambled up, the focus seems to be moved at least a dozens of times during the (all to long) length of the movie, sudden events come without any purpose, explanation or, worst of all, point. 2. The ACTING is INCREDIBLY LOUSY. Nothing really more to be said. Daniell Day Lewis looks nice, but the acting is just so incredibly amateur-like that I couldn't believe it. 3. The DIALOGUE is Awful. There was one - ONE - line in the whole movie that actually worked (when the uncle says "I'm a professional businessman, not a professional Pakisthani." The rest just screams 'I'm a 11 year old trying to write a screenplay'. 4. The CUTTING is - I'm running out of bad words hear, so I'll just stick to horrible, cause that pretty much sums it up. When the cutting is done well you won't really notice it, but in this movie the cutting is done in all the wrong places - either too soon or too late. On the bottom line, you might think: There might be some redeeming qualities, there must be something good to say about this movie. But there's not. Sorry. But I have nothing good to say. It just downright horrible. 1 out of 10. That's a minimum. Avoid at all cost.

The film that launched Stephen Frear's career, "My Beautiful Laundrette" was originally only released for British TV., yet it was so immensely popular that it was subsequently re-released for the cinema years later. Saeed Jaffrey, Daniel Day Lewis, Roshan Seth and all the supporting cast perform well in this insightful drama of racial tensions, forbidden love and South London culture. The movie is always believable, but it's sadly spoiled by a patchy script, poor editing and the complete lack of resolution. Frears exposes the ugly side of these people well, yet he fails to make any firm statement. A little more definite direction was needed here. Monday, October 25, 1993 - Video

We saw this movie when it was first released on the big screen. It just happen to start when we needed a movie to so we had no idea what to expect. What a pleasant surprise this film was. Daniel Day Lewis (in one of his earliest roles) stars with Gordon Warnecke in this unconventional love story. Warnecke plays young Omar, who is given the opprtunity to run his uncle's laundrette. He enlists the aid of his ex-lover, Johnny (played by Lewis) to get the business back on it's feet. The scene in the laundrette that includes Omar and Johnny in the foreground and Omar's uncle and his mistress in the background, is one of the most sensual celluloid scenes I ever scene. If you are looking for something good and out of the ordinary, I would recommend this one.

I like this movie very much, even if I don't know anything about British politics, the class struggle or how to run a business. I don't even know what the characters are talking about half the time, but its obvious that they know, so it doesn't matter. And for once its nice to see a gay relationship as part of the movie rather than the reason for the movie.

For its time MBL was a break through movie. London is a very complicated place for colonials and for punks. As the friendship between the boys develops- complications arise. What I liked about this film was its unpretentiousness. You can hear and almost smell the various neighborhoods of London. And Daniel Day Lewis certainly showed his potential for the star he would become.