DIFFERENT FOR GIRLS
A film review by Gerald Tan
Copyright 1997 Flying Inkpot
Directed by: Richard Spence
Written by: Tony Merchant
Cast: Steven Mackintosh (Kim Foyle), Rupert Graves (Paul Prentice),
Miriam Margoyles (Pamela), Saskia Reeves (Pamela),
Neil Dudgeon (Neil)
Produced by: John Chapman
Running Time: 92 minutes
Rating: ** out of *****
BE WARNED.. BRIT LOVE STORY IN THE OFFING.
Effeminate, mild-mannered Karl is about to take a beatng from a bunch of ruffians at school as he bathes himself under a shower, his genitals tucked between his legs in the manner of a posing transvestite. He is only just saved by Prentice, who appears in all respects barring his protective attitude towards Karl to be your average street-wise punk-in-the-making. The ensuing scene ends up with both boys being ridiculed and then unfairly expelled from the school. They do not see each other for another eighteen yeas.
In that time, Prentice has matured into a somewhat loveable, if brash and bull-heaed goon who screws up his jobs and relationships while gamely clinging onto perennial adolescence via lether jackets, motorcycles and punk rock music. Karl, on the other hand, has grown up to become Kim, a drabby, insecure woman who works as a verse writer for a greeting card company. Chance brings the two together, and love, such as will inevitably blossom in your quirky British romantic comedy, is what this skewed little story is largely about.
If at this point you think you're going to get any cheap laughs with that gender-bending theme (see THE BIRDCAGE, TO WONG FOO..., PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT), you can just go home and brood on your own maladjusted sexuality you low-life deadbeat. Kim is a post-operative transsexual, thank you very much... a new-born woman for all purposes, with confusions and sensitivities that deserve treatment with a touch of delicacy.
Personally, give me those cheap laughs any day. I'd rather enjoy obvious camp than endure the shallow exploration of a soft- hearted transsexual love story. DIFFERENT FOR GIRLS comes up with a promising enough proposition, but does nothing that surpasses the merely workmanlike with it. By refusing to make the audience really uncomfortable with the notion of Kim and Prentice's relation- ship, or at the very least feel uncomfortable for them (Prentice for example, doesn't seem to give hiself all that much grief when he becomes attracted to Kim despite being a fight-picking, beer-drinking, macho kind of guy, and Kim, for all her insecurities and fears is always saved any truly disturbing victimisation in the film), and instead drawing them into a basically wimpy love story, the film manages to lobotomise itself.
Lightweight comedy as it's doomed to be, it could've still have hacked it with the requisitive endearing couple. But this doesn't either, since even Mrs Doubtfire is sexier than Steven Mackintosh's Kim Foyle, and as either sex, he's just plainly a simpering wanker nobody should like. Prentice does though, and that's never explained. But then Rupert Graves gives us so heroic performance as Prentice, the guy who never grew up (and if there is a BAFTA prize for Most Convincing Portrayal of a Rabid Fan at a Buzzcocks' Concert, he should win that too) that I guess there's no reason to explain why he's so screwed up.
If oddly enough you grow to like this show, you'll be wanting your happy ending, and the film won't fail you there either. Snide underling at Kim's office gets her come-uppance. Misogynistic police officer who beats up Prentice gets his come-uppance. The couple prevail against a disagreeable society and come together in Kim's apartment. Kim's sister and her impotent sarge-type husband kiss and make up after a tiff (TV movie sub-plot with incidental juxtaposition). And best of all, Kim sheds her insecurities and learns how to ride the motorcycle and wear leathers, making Prentice ride pilion. Awwww. Terrific closure. Happy ending. But just what is it that's differnt for girls anyway? If you figure that one out, let me know.
The Flying Inkpot Rating System: * Wait for the TV2 broadcast. ** A little creaky, but still better than staying at home with Gotcha! *** Pretty good, bring a friend. **** Amazing, potent stuff. ***** Perfection. See it twice.
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