Rating: 
Summary: True to its name, a beautiful film
Review: I've seen few films with such intensity, humour and heartache all rolled into one. The scenes flowed onto each other seamlessly, the plot complex yet perfectly led, and the Acting was just superb.Daniel Day Lewis was unforgettable as the rough street punk Johnny, while Gordon Warnecke was equally engaging as Omar, the Pakistani boy with big ambitions. Another stand-out was Roshan Seth, playing a drunken disgruntled Pakistani father, with no hope, no future, and little life left in his alcohol weakened body. Seth stole the scene wherever he appeared, and not just because of the hair, seriously. The fact that this film is partly about the relationship between two men had absolutely no influence on me as an audience. To the people watching, it is as natural to them as it is for the two main characters on the silver screen. At times, it is heartbreaking to watch the hatred and misunderstanding between two races living on the same land. But what do 2 boys with a beautiful laundrette care anyway, for them, each day is a brand new day isn't it?
Rating:
Summary: True to its name, a beautiful film
Review: I've seen few films with such intensity, humour and heartache all rolled into one. The scenes flowed onto each other seamlessly, the plot complex yet perfectly led, and the Acting was just superb. Daniel Day Lewis was unforgettable as the rough street punk Johnny, while Gordon Warnecke was equally engaging as Omar, the Pakistani boy with big ambitions. Another stand-out was Roshan Seth, playing a drunken disgruntled Pakistani father, with no hope, no future, and little life left in his alcohol weakened body. Seth stole the scene wherever he appeared, and not just because of the hair, seriously. The fact that this film is partly about the relationship between two men had absolutely no influence on me as an audience. To the people watching, it is as natural to them as it is for the two main characters on the silver screen. At times, it is heartbreaking to watch the hatred and misunderstanding between two races living on the same land. But what do 2 boys with a beautiful laundrette care anyway, for them, each day is a brand new day isn't it?
Rating:
Summary: STUPENDOUSLY ENJOYABLE
Review: Originally intended only as a television feature film, MBL is one of the quietest but stirring movies you will see. The story is about one Pakistani man (Warnecke) and a long time Englishman friend (Day-Lewis) who both live on the wrong side of the tracks as they grope for success in a world replete with multiple forms of discrimination -- racism, sexism, groupism, homophobia, cultural elitism, snobbery, reverse colonialism, neocolonialism and fascism -- which they successfully grapple and topple in the form of their launderette with the power of economic enterprise. These squabbling goblins are left to each others excesses as economic success lifts them up and out of these, but many questions remain: will they subsist? Would others succeed; What does luck have to do with it? Kureshi had [upset] all groups who find themselves part of this smashing satire, prime among them the identity conscious confused second/third generation subcontinental British kids, the same contingency that staunchly supported the Rushdie fatwa (the kind also sharply profiled in "My son, the fanatic"). Brilliant.
Rating:
Summary: Touching story about class and cultural differences
Review: People made a huge deal out of this movie because of the gay content. It's really very minimal (two kisses, a lick on the neck and one very tasteful yet erotic scene and another little kiss later) Maybe a total of 3 or 4 minutes of the film (ok, though that turned into a half hour by all the replaying I did of those scenes - and yes, I'm a straight girl and still can't get enough of DDL's passionate kisses) It's very touching because it's so natural and a complete non-issue. No one dies of AIDS, no one makes a big drama scene about coming out of the closet, no one demands attention and acceptance for being gay(though *of course* gay people should be accepted) the film just really goes out of its way to show there's *nothing* deviant or strange to homosexuality. You could even see it as a symbolic point, that it's the one thing Omar and Johnny share that does not fit into either of their cultural equations. My two other favorite characters were Omar's father and Tanya. This Pakistani family reminded me of my family. I am not Pakistani but the issues are the same. The dad was very poignant in the way he wanted better for his son, how he couldn't let go of his upper class background and how he looked down on the Johnny's sort but was kind and wanted better for him too. He reminded me of my grandparents. And then there was Tanya. I loved how she sort of bonded with Johnny in their way. What a great performance she gave. This film has so many threads and nuances and Omar's character balances it all with so much grace, respecting his culture and keeping close to his family but being true to himself at the same time by staying involved with Johnny. I *love* Daniel Day Lewis!
Rating: 
Summary: Its not just a gay movie...
Review: Reading the names of lists that "My Beautiful Laundrette" is listed on it struck me how everyone notices this movie because it has 2 gay characters... Most of the titles were something like "Must-own gay movies" "Good starts to your [gay] movie collection"....
By making "MBL" into purely a "gay" movie, these people take all the complexities of the movie that goes beyond the sexualities of the characters. There are so many themes within "MBL": 1980's London, the social friction and racism, the failling economy, the corrupt business practices, the consequences of Pakistanis (or any immigrants I suppose) trying to either become British or keep their heritage.....
This movie isnt a chronicle of Johnny and Omar's relationship. Their relationship is merely one thread in the movie. The characters within this movie can't be labeled into general groups so the actual movie thatt contains them should be seen same way. Lay off the generalizations and just enjoy the show....
Rating:
Summary: One of Frear's masterpieces
Review: Stephen Frears has made some of the best films of our time, from high art like Dangerous Liasons to his tales of working class England. "My Beautiful Laundrette" is one of my absolute favorite films. I particularly enjoy seeing some of India's finest actors (the father and the uncle). Check out "Sammy and Rosie Get Laid" as well, which is a collaboration with the same screenwriter.
Rating:
Summary: beautiful and calm movie but...
Review: This film deals with the problems of races and classes in London. But this film doesn't provoke me to anger as in Hollywood films. This film (and it may sound unusual to people who have seen My Beautiful Launderette) is beautiful and calm to me: the growing love between Johnny and Omar, the squelching sounds of their funky launderette, the aqua color, the questions that the film raises -- to me these are very impressive and seductive and calming. But my focus will be on the women. There are four women in the film: Tanya (Nassir's daughter. Nassir is Omar's uncle), Rachel (Nassir's mistress) and Omar's mother (she is talked about by Omar and Nassir in the course of the film). Nassir thinks that for people like them, Pakistani-British, their position in England is determined by wealth. The film focuses on how and others in the family want to make money. But the women don't have any money. They are dependant on the menfolk, completely. Tanya blames Rachel for living like a parasite on her father and which is the truth. But Tanya herself, a grown woman, close to Omar's age lives off her father as well. She could have helped her father in business as she points out to Omar. But business belongs to men. Nassir would give the business to his brother's son (Omar), not to his own daughter. Money and who controls it is a powerful subject in the film. Women in it don't have money and are therefore weak and powerless. At a family party, at Nassir's house, women are separated from men. Women are in a open and bright living room. There is laughter and talk there. But we (spectators) are not able to hear them. Their conversations are unclear and not translated into English. (They are speaking Urdu -- the language spoken in Pakistan).
Men on the other hand, seem to talk about important things in dark corners of the room. And it seems like women are forbidden to enter this place. Tanya defies this. When Omar first visits Nassir's house, Tanya shows defiance by lifting her sweater and exposing her breast to Omar. She is standing outside the house, and through the window lifts her sweater to unnerve Omar.
I have sympathy for Omar's mother. We got only ghostly glimpses of her from Omar and Omar's father, a journalist and activist is disillusioned by Britain. He vents his pent up anger and frustrations on her wife. Finally, she can't endure any more, and throws herself on a railway track.In traditional eastern families (and this includes India, Korea, and other eastern countries), a husband's violence on his wife is tolerated as his right. His wife is thought of as a part of her husband's possession. And when a husband keeps a mistress, she can't oppose it. But if she were to have a boyfriend, she would be kicked out of the patriarchal husband's house. In My Beautiful Launderette, I find women in this Pakistani-British family neglected. They are powerless, rejected, dependent, and victims of men. At the end of the film, Tanya leaves her father's house. She is the first one to resist against a system of patriarchy. Her father is stunned, anguished.
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