BEAUTIFUL THING Movie Review

We're used to seeing fairy-tale romances set in unlikely surroundings, but Hettie MacDonald's Beautiful Thing—the story of two teenagers in a London housing project who gradually discover their love for each other—is nevertheless a disarming and welcome surprise. For one thing, the kids who discover their mutual affection are both boys; for another, the picture ends with acceptance, understanding, and happiness all around. Knowing the outcome in no way diminishes the fun of Beautiful Thing, for it's the feast of performances (though many of the decidedly non-royal accents may at first be impenetrable to Americans) together with the picture's well-drawn working-class milieu that make so much of this fable of well-placed faith a pleasure to watch. Glenn Berry and Scott Neal are quite fine as the two boys—initially aware to very different degrees of their feelings for each other—but Linda Henry as the outspoken mother of one of the boys, and Tameka Empson the girl next door who has a Mama Cass fixation, steal the film by sheer force of personality. Beautiful Thing falls apart the instant you place its vision of universal acceptance and its wouldn't-it-be-great finale in the real world, but director MacDonald has been wise enough to keep reality at considerably more than arm's length. Adapted by Jonathan Harvey from his play, and featuring a good-time soundtrack stuffed to the brim with faves from the Mamas and the Papas.

NEXT STOP … Ma Vie en Rose, Different for Girls, Fire

1995 (R) 89m/C GB Glen Berry, Scott Neal, Linda Henry, Tameka Empson, Ben Daniels; D: Hettie Macdonald; W: Jonathan Harvey; C: Chris Seager. VHS, Closed Caption COL