Rita, Sue & Bob Nu

This was an excellent low-budget film full of strong performances. Set in the North of England it follows two schoolgirls and a philandering husband on what appears to be a dirty and sleazy romp. But none of these people deserve their grim and loveless lives. None of them are "bad" and there are no victims. This is not so much a morality play as an immorality play. When Bob says that his wife doesn't understand him, he is right. The "seduction" scene in the back of his car is one of the best ever. With hindsight, it is impossible to tell who is being seduced.

Made for TV by FilmFour the camerawork reminds me of a soap opera. The scenes are largely drab and impoverished but Rita, Sue and Bob have fun ! When they are together the world seems a better place. The scene at the dance with the terrible 80's party band Black Lace is wonderful, they are having a such a great time and it is in such contrast to their grim reality.

The ending is wonderful.

This movie has stood up very well over the years. All the performances are excellent and the writing is better than that of any British film I can bring to mind. The fact that it was written by a very young woman is amazing. She had such a deep understanding of how the world works at such a young age and was able to turn it into a spectacularly entertaining and enduring work of art.

It's one of those films you can watch over and over again. In my repeat viewing chart it's probably second only to The Blues Brothers.

Great fun and they'll never make anything like this ever again.

British playwright Andrea Dunbar combined two of her stage plays to create the movie script for Rita, Sue and Bob Too, a movie which, in my family at least, is somewhat fondly remembered as a naughty and gleefully foul-mouthed comedy about an older, married man who starts a sexually-charged relationship with two schoolgirls who babysit his children. 30 years on, the subject matter could be slightly troubling, and it just may be exactly that for some people seeing it for the first time. Yet with the tagline "Thatcher's Britain with her knickers down!" and the socially aware Alan Clarke at the helm, it's clear that the film is much more than a titillating throwback to the Carry On days, and paints an incredibly grim picture of working-class life in Bradford, and of Britain as a whole.

Rita (Downton Abbey's Siobhan Finneran) and Sue (Michelle Holmes) are two bubbly and outgoing girls making some extra cash on the side by babysitting for middle-class couple Bob (George Cositgan) and Michelle (Lesley Sharp). While driving the girls home one night, Bob takes a detour to the moors where he proceeds to have sex with both of them, one after the other. The threesome start a potentially damaging relationship, with the girls having to deal with a troubled home- life and the pressures of school gossip, and Bob coming under scrutiny from his wife, who he has cheated on many times before. As Bob and Rita grow closer and Sue finds herself in an abusive relationship with young Pakistani Aslam (Kulvinder Ghir), close bonds are broken and lives are ruined, when all Bob really wants is to get his rocks off.

It is a film that would never get made nowadays, but Clarke's film never attempts to make any stance on the morality of the characters' actions. For a guy who sounds like a complete scumbag on paper, Bob is a surprisingly likable, if obviously flawed, chap. Rita and Sue are so loud, abrasive and willing to participate in the bizarre three-way that they it's impossible to view them as victims. The picture painted by Dunbar and Clarke of a crumbling Britain in the grip of austerity suggests that the central characters are acting out of boredom and to escape the banality of their suffocating environment. It is a socioeconomic drama cleverly disguised as an old-fashioned sex farce, and succeeds in being socially observant and laugh-out-loud funny. The introduction to Sue's frenetic home- life is a mixture of amusing one-liners and kitchen-sink angst, and this lopsided tone is consistent throughout the rest of the film. With its lack of ethical judgement amidst such a potentially creepy subject matter, Rita, Sue and Bob Too with unsettle some but delight others.

Middle aged, married man Bob starts a sexual fling with his babysitters, schoolgirls Rita and Sue.

The first thing to point out, they'd never get away with this film nowadays, I imagine that some will watch in horror, outraged by the storyline, a story that probably had more than a hint of realism.

It's almost impossible to explain what this film is, pretty much a comedy drama, but it's so much more. The sheer variety of content is still so impressive, it's funny, it's sad, it shows all sides of life, good and bad.

The performances are spot on, Costigan and Sharp are great, but Holmes and Finneran steal it.

Expect to see some wonderfully hideous 1980's decor, that pink leather sofa on the patterned red carpet, the green jardiniere, not the most stylish era.

It's a classic, but one where you'll need to remember the time it was made.

8/10.

This film really should be used in schools as a realistic portrayal of English life in the eighties.

There are some literally side splittingly funny scenes in this film. The most memorable are those of Sue's alcoholic Dad and his antics. I don't know if the director was meaning to show him as being really funny but some of the things he comes out with are absolutely brilliant.

My favourite moment is when Sue gets back from baby sitting the first time. His quote "cos there's nowt opp-en! That's how!" is brilliant.

Watch this film, it will make you laugh out loud.