(1996)
3.5
Brian J. Dillard
Although it's a remarkably unself-conscious, non-dogmatic and tender gay love story, the film Beautiful Thing loses something in its translation from the original stage version. South London writer Jonathan Harvey adapted his own play for the screen and enlisted its original stage director, Hettie MacDonald, but in reworking the material for the cinema the pair lose some of its focus and economy. The oppressively static sense of place that was enforced by the cramped, council-flat setting opens up too much on film, robbing the story of some of its subtext; additional plot points such as an ecstasy-fueled night of revelations detract from the play's almost ritualistic structure. Worst of all, Mama Cass-obsessed supporting character Leah (Tameka Empson) becomes more of a human punchline than a fully realized and sympathetic individual. Despite these shortcomings, though, Glen Berry and Scott Neal are terrific as the tentative young lovers. Stage and television vet Linda Henry, meanwhile, deftly and wittily combines working-class grit, maternal concern and knowing sex appeal as Sandra, the barmaid mum who unwittingly helps the boys come together. Harvey's express intention in writing Beautiful Thing was to prove that working-class gay boys can have happy endings, and on that count this modest film succeeds very well. Sweet, wistful and full of hope -- just like the Cass Elliot songs that pepper the soundtrack -- Beautiful Thing ultimately survives its translation to celluloid.
Beautiful Thing on AllMovie
Beautiful Thing (1996)
