Thursday Romantic Comedy Classic

Welcome to a new weekly feature here at Movies with Abe, Thursday Romantic Comedy Classic. I’m taking a course called The Romantic Comedy where we’re charting the history and development of romantic comedies from the 1920s to the present. We’ll be watching some pretty iconic films, some of which I haven’t seen before. Each week, I’ll be providing a short review of one romantic comedy classic from the annals of history.

My Beautiful Laundrette
Directed by Stephen Frears
Released March 7, 1986

This is the only contemporary film screened in this class that I wasn’t familiar with, and it’s one that’s listed under the category of “Crossing Borders: Interracial Coupling and Multiculturalism in the Romantic Comedy” for the purposes of the course. It’s a less blatant look at the way families react to interracial coupling than “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” which manages to illustrate even more starkly the difference in cultural codes and social standing. It’s also significant because it portrays a gay couple transcending those interracial boundaries, and it’s certainly at intriguing look at multiple phenomena, including running a laundrette. The only recognizable face in the film is a youthful-looking Daniel Day-Lewis, sporting a mohawk and a sly grin. It’s one of his first film roles, and it’s hard to believe, looking at his resume on IMDB, that he’s only made about a dozen films since then in the past twenty-five years. It’s fun to see him jumping around and full of so much energy, and his screen presence, even in a performance that can’t compare to “Gangs of New York” or “There Will Be Blood,” is evident here. The rest of the cast is able enough, and Gordon Warnecke turns in a fine performance as laundrette operator and up-and-coming businessman Omar. The film isn’t really a comedy, though there are some pretty comic moments, like Johnny (Day-Lewis) licking Omar’s neck when the two embrace in front of prying eyes. Overall, it’s an important film but not a terribly well-made one. From the opening shot of the washers spinning out the titles, it’s altogether fairly silly and doesn’t take itself very seriously. On top of that, much of the dialogue is outlandish and some of the characters, particularly Salim, are quite over-the-top. Director Stephen Frears has had much time to craft his dramatic work – he hit his high point with Best Picture nominee “The Queen” in 2006 – and this is from when he was just starting out. A notable film for the history books, but it’s not nearly as impressive as a movie.

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