Welcome to Screen Gems, our weekend dive into queer and queer-adjacent titles of the past that deserve a watch or a rewatch.
The Stolen Scenes: Beautiful Thing
This 1996 romantic comedy about two British high school boys in love helped pave the way for countless other queer films, and foreshadowed the success of Love, Simon. Beautiful Thing follows the story of Jamie (Glen Berry), a teen hopelessly infatuated with his classmate Ste (Scott Neal). Both hail from rough family situations: Jamie’s mother Sandra (Linda Henry) goes through one eccentric man after the next, while Ste’s father struggles with drugs, and beats his son. One night, when Ste gets a particularly nasty beating, Sandra takes in Ste to sleep over. Sparks immediately fly between he and Jamie as the two boys come to discover their budding sexuality.
Pretty straightforward, right? Jamie and Ste are the least interesting elements of Beautiful Thing. While Berry and Neal both go easy on the eyes and give fine performances, they come off rather bland when compared to the post-hippie Sandra, and, in particular, Leah (Tameka Empson) a sassy neighbor with a Mama Cass obsession that befriends the boys. Both Leah and Sandra steal the movie right out from under their handsome co-stars: the two ladies have much more developed and complicated personalities, and are a lot more fun to watch.
Sweet, tender and very funny, Beautiful Thing feels like an innocent, welcome breath of fresh air in a time of political crisis. Watch it, and dream of a more beautiful tomorrow for queer kids everywhere.
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amanwithanedge
I loved that movie.
G R
A terrific film
Lazycrockett
Beautiful Thing was one of the first gay themed movies where no one died of AIDS and the boys got a happy ending. This was rare back in the day. Plus the soundtrack is amazing.
jdr11201
I remember this,
I was actually living in Manchester England with some mates summer of 96 this film was Hilarious especially Mama Cass :o.
kputnam
I watched this movie everyday for a month in 2000 and I still quote it regularly.
dhmonarch89
‘I feel like chicken tonight’ ‘Mother Care here I come’
‘Slasher- what do you slash, crepe paper?’ ‘He’s incontinent’
theaterbloke
Don’t forget that out actor Ben Daniels played Sandra’s boyfriend Tony.
dhmonarch89
I liked Sandra and Leah, but neither stole the movie for me. Jamie and Ste are the best couple in gay film history. This film wins gay poll after poll for favorite film and it’s not for the two str8 women. Their kiss in the woods is pure poetry! The dance at the end is pure joy. Yes- Sandra and Leah enhance that moment- but they don’t steal it- it wouldn’t be so loved if they had.
Liquid Silver
“Lo and behold her voice had changed.”
WHACK!
Sandra’s boyfriend was easy on the eyes, too, but I always go for the hippie type.
Cam
The author said “Jamie’s mother Sandra (Linda Henry) goes through one eccentric man after the next, ”
No, she had one boyfriend the entire movie that she broke up with towards the end.
A great movie. I wouldn’t say Leah or Sandra stole the movie, Sandra was a great character and totally embodied a tough mother who didn’t totally get her kid, but would kill anything that tried to harm him, and Leah had some moments but the main story was about the kids relationship growing.
Dick Gozinia
I’ve seen it so many times I finally just bought it on DVD. The two stars are now 42. The one who played Jamie (Glen Berry) is a car salesman, married and has a daughter. The one who played Ste (Scott Neal) is still acting and I’ll be darned if I could find out anything about his personal life.
Dymension
I so loved this film!
rand503
Great film. And it was probably the first film from Britain that showed me that not everyone lives in castles or country houses. It was a eye-opener to see that many working class Brits live in horrible brutalist-style apartments.
TheOrb
This is my number one gay themed film ever. I wish a Blu-ray version would be issued. I agree with all the comments. Jamie & Ste are the best characters. The soundtrack is unforgettable.
KyleMichelSullivan
Oh, how could you diss my Jamie and Ste like that? NO…no, no, no…I loved them. Loved how they were. Loved the whole arc and the ending and while Sandra and Leah were fun, the heart of the piece was the boys…
Cam
The other problem with that film. For YEARS you couldn’t get it anywhere, it’s finally available on streaming!
LumpyPillows
A most excellent movie. I did need to turn on captions for some of the slang!