MovieChat Forums > My Beautiful Laundrette (1986) Discussion > Oh my god! It's so eighties! All in all:...

Oh my god! It's so eighties! All in all: Not a great film

posted 19 years ago by markus-dehmann
38 replies | jump to latest

Isn't it funny? Salim's haircut? And Johnny's blond haircut? And the disco they go to once, when Omo starts to wear suits?

Doesn't Omo's father look a bit young, BTW? It's definitely a miscast. Overall, I don't understand why people praise the movie so. Okay, it touches hot social topics. But it's boring at times. And it wasn't clear why it didn't work out between Omo and Tania. They were suddenly so cold to each other, but we have no clue why.

Sure, there are innovative elements in this movie, like the bubbling sound effects (that's the kind of thing you see again in a movie like "Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain" or "Lola Runs"). Or some good camera work. But overall, I didn't enjoy it much.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] Mad_scientist_of_purple 19 years ago

Well aren't we imaginative...how about you just shut the *beep* up, or at least think of something more imaginative you post..hmm?

[–] tennisplaya45 19 years ago

funny, he's posted the same exact thing in every movie involving gays that he's posted in...like you said Mad Scientist...this Mickcampion is quite the creative lil bugger...

[–] smeth 19 years ago

I think things cool off between Omo and Tania because Omar only pursues Tania because he thinks being straight will help him in the family business. Johnny gets jealous and starts to flirt with Tania to get back at Omo, and Tania finally catches on that she's being used as pawn in Omar and Johnny's little mating ritual.

Yes it does touch hot social topics. During the 80's, England had something similar to the US's Great Depression. Racial tensions were very bad. Hollywood was making movies like Top Gun and Flashdance despite the fact that the Go-Go 80's were really only good for a very few lucky people, and L.A. was heating up for the Rodney King riots. This was one of the only movies made in the 80's to acknowledge that most people (in the UK or US) were really bad off at the time. Screenwriter Hanif Kureishi has written a lot about the plight of Asian immigrants and social upheaval in the UK, and a couple things may be available on video "Sammy and Rosie get Laid" and "The Buddha of Suburbia" (a tv miniseries), and maybe the best of all "My son the Fanatic".

Yeah the dad looks kinda young, his imdb bio says the actor was 43 at the time. Most actors and actresses try to play younger roles, not older ones. It's hard to say just how old the father was really supposed to be. I think his acting is just fine.

As far as funny haircuts go, let's meet up in 10 or 15 years and look at the hair in movies made in 2005. Today's fashion is tomorrow's embarrassment.

[–] julesbrouwer 19 years ago

What a stupid post.

MBL is one of the finest independent movies of the 1980s.

[–] Soror_Mystica 18 years ago

I agree with you entirely.
And Hanif Kureishi is one of the most intelligent and gifted screenplay writers that ever gave England. I read the screenplay yesterday, saw the movie 15 years ago and I just got more and more amazed about the authenticity of the issues and the characters. There are many memorable quotes full of wisdom and other many with which you could laugh your ass off. Best Frears's movie as far.

Just don't care about what that German Wurst above says.....

[–] Noir-It-All 18 years ago

I loved this film. I saw it in 1985 in a theater. I was an '80s person in that I worked 60 hour weeks and always wanted to move up and earn a raise. I was impressed with Omo's ambition. Didn't he say something like this to Johnny? "I want big money. You and your friends pushed me from one end of the floor to the other." Unfortunately, what really got them started was the money from the stolen drugs. On the other hand, that may be more common than we'd like to believe. I loved their laundrette, so upbeat, colorful, open 24/7, the music was wonderful, of course, and the neighborhood embraced it. I think the laundrette was a symbol for Princess Diana! My hope was for the laundrette to earn a true profit. Wasn't Omar approached to run other laundrettes? "With Johnny." More money!

"I wass in a tight spot but I managed to wiggle out of it." Mae West

[–] canadian_film_buff 19 years ago

I wasn't big on it either. Gave it a 6 out of 10. The music drove me nuts, didn't like it at all and it was just a bit too heavy on the eighties for me. The script didn't pull me in all that much, either.

I did find the acting impressive, though. Loved, loved, loved Daniel Day-Lewis (he's so freakin' beautiful) and Gordon Warnecke (also beautiful) and thought their scenes were smoking hot. Mmm...

You are what you love, not what loves you.
(Donald Kauffman, Adaptation)

[–] pale_was_green 18 years ago

you do realize in 20 years we're gonna be watching movies and be like

"dammit, this is so 2005"

get over it.

enjoy it for what it is and stop harping on it being "so 80's".

sheesh.

[–] RogerMarket 16 years ago

I agree. :-)

[–] linda303 15 years ago

The 80s were sooo wonderful.. I had just graduated from university when this film was released. tie is (was) a brilliant depiction of it;s times.

Sheesh, when we see films 25 years from now will we say, it was so boring... al that Obama stuff... What was the big deal all about?

I can only guess the OP is about 15 years old. Not alive long enough to appreciate history, only current pop tv.

[–] moviekiller 18 years ago

I'm all for independant movies and such, but I have to agree with the poster on this one. I remember watching this movie a couple of years ago, and being bored almost to tears. It is probably cinematically very good, but I just thought it was one of the most mind numbingly bad films I have ever seen.

[–] Straightforward 18 years ago

I tried to watch this film so many times, because a good friend of mine just loved it and kept telling me how great it was. Usually I like the movies she likes, but I just never could get into this one...

[–] Victorina 18 years ago

You know why it is "so eighties!"? Because it was made in the eighties.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] kamikaze_camel 18 years ago

The movie looks, sounds and feels like an '80s movie because it was made and set in the '80s. What's so hard to understand about that.

As others have said, people will watch movies from now in 20 years and wonder what the hell music we were listening to.

[–] Krustallos 18 years ago

It's actually a take on the 80's from someone whose values were formed in the late '70s.

But I don't see that it's dated so much. The issues of capitalism, the death of idealism and the assimilation of immigrant communities are hardly less relevant now than then. Unless haircuts are that important to you, what's the problem?

"I don’t like the term torture. I prefer to call it nastiness."

Donald Rumsfeld

[–] eeax2 17 years ago

I havent seen it since first release back in the movies but I think part of the films appeal is the novelty due to it being a British film. There's a refreshing frankness and candor in certain areas where the Hollywood machine would tread either too gingerly or heavy handedly. On the other hand the film is unfocused has too many strands and possibly not the best acting, Day-Lewis not withstanding.

In comparison with the US fare of the time like The Breakfast Club, and the hipper more grown-up Something Wild, it is easy to see how this might be a refreshing albeit technically frayed offering allowing a glimpse into 80's life from the west's other English speaking capital.