Rita, Sue And Bob Too (1987) -
I loved this film when I was an adolescent, probably because I got to see Bob's bum and the horny little bugger in me would have dined out on that for weeks. I also loved the 'Gang Bang' song by Black Lace which I couldn't believe was allowed and was hysterical to me, naive thing that I was.
But I'm not sure, watching it in 2022, that I would have found it so much fun to watch if I was coming to it new. The nostalgia of it, makes it something that I will watch again, because I can remember the sort of life that it depicted, but a lot of the acting was quite exaggerated like in Mike Leigh's films, 'Life Is Sweet' (1990) for one example.
I think that acting has come a long way since then and it's far less stagey and there isn't the need to project voices as these types of films seemed to do. As a result everything got a bit loud and grating. And Lesley Sharp was positively awful in her performance here, I know she has done better since.
I think this film was better than the Mike Leigh ones though. It's subject matter was slightly more realistic and less comical, just for the sake of laughs, but both styles were of an ilk.
Looking back as I was, it was difficult to see what any of them saw in each other really. None of them were exactly stunners even by the late 80's standards and their personalities weren't that charming either. I suppose the point of it was to show the skewed morals of the time and the sex obsessed nation that Britain really was, as opposed to the 'Merchant Ivory' repressed Victorian era films that were also being released.
In many ways, this film was a bit of a grim representation of things. Maybe I was lucky to live where I did in 1989/90, but the families shown and the estates that they lived on in this film were quite a vulgar picture of life. I hope that those were exaggerated too. Even Bob and his wife lacked class, despite their alleged higher station in life. As I've said though, I was probably sheltered to a lot of what was happening elsewhere whilst in my semi detached house in Devon with Mummy and Daddy.
I still like this film, but I could understand if others, coming to it fresh, might not enjoy it as much. It's certainly not something that I could recommend to my Niece or Nephew and expect then to actually appreciate it for the naive charm that I found in it oh so long ago.
642.23/1000.
I loved this film when I was an adolescent, probably because I got to see Bob's bum and the horny little bugger in me would have dined out on that for weeks. I also loved the 'Gang Bang' song by Black Lace which I couldn't believe was allowed and was hysterical to me, naive thing that I was.
But I'm not sure, watching it in 2022, that I would have found it so much fun to watch if I was coming to it new. The nostalgia of it, makes it something that I will watch again, because I can remember the sort of life that it depicted, but a lot of the acting was quite exaggerated like in Mike Leigh's films, 'Life Is Sweet' (1990) for one example.
I think that acting has come a long way since then and it's far less stagey and there isn't the need to project voices as these types of films seemed to do. As a result everything got a bit loud and grating. And Lesley Sharp was positively awful in her performance here, I know she has done better since.
I think this film was better than the Mike Leigh ones though. It's subject matter was slightly more realistic and less comical, just for the sake of laughs, but both styles were of an ilk.
Looking back as I was, it was difficult to see what any of them saw in each other really. None of them were exactly stunners even by the late 80's standards and their personalities weren't that charming either. I suppose the point of it was to show the skewed morals of the time and the sex obsessed nation that Britain really was, as opposed to the 'Merchant Ivory' repressed Victorian era films that were also being released.
In many ways, this film was a bit of a grim representation of things. Maybe I was lucky to live where I did in 1989/90, but the families shown and the estates that they lived on in this film were quite a vulgar picture of life. I hope that those were exaggerated too. Even Bob and his wife lacked class, despite their alleged higher station in life. As I've said though, I was probably sheltered to a lot of what was happening elsewhere whilst in my semi detached house in Devon with Mummy and Daddy.
I still like this film, but I could understand if others, coming to it fresh, might not enjoy it as much. It's certainly not something that I could recommend to my Niece or Nephew and expect then to actually appreciate it for the naive charm that I found in it oh so long ago.
642.23/1000.