Get Real

What distinguishes Get Real from any number of gay teen movies is its absense of camp humour and lack of flirtatious innuendo. Patrick Wilde's script has an assurance that reflects the emotional uncertainties and suffocating family pressures of kids growing up in a suburban English new town.

Steven Carter (Ben Silverstone) is a weed. The school bullies torment him and call him "Girlie" and throw his satchel over the wall. He lets them, he suffers it. At 16, he knows what he wants and is much cleverer than he lets on. He has recognised his homosexuality since he was 11 and learnt how to disguise it from those who would be devastated (his parents), or wish to exploit it (his classmates).

Steven's story is one of deception, deviation, love sickness and bravery. His only confidante is the fat girl next door (hilarious performance from Charlotte Brittain), who has a bitchy wit and the opposite of a hormone deficiency. His passion is for the hero of the running track (Brad Gorton), who has every female within a five mile radius gagging for him.

Debut director, Simon Shore, avoids substituting irony and satire for truth, thus deflecting the embarrassment of a boy's own romance. The film has many outstanding qualities - Wilde's script, Silverstone's acting, Shore's integrity.

It is the first British movie since Brassed Off to treat a serious subject with genuine respect.