Gregory's Two Girls

A shift in outlook is neccesary to enjoy modern British films, one that somehow allows them to be seen in their own right and for their own qualities rather than by the criteria that American films are judged. Britfilm has to try hard to be gritty and finds it hard to make it, but at warmth British films can lord it over their otherwise overwhelming competitor.

This film fails not in its content but only in attaching itself to the predeccesor, so allowing it to be all to easily seen as the work of star and director somewhere near the end of their tethers. It's a couple of decades later, Gregory teaching and this time with two girls on his mind. He teaches at his school railing against human rights abuses. When students he's fired up find abuses in their midst he must face whether he's just all talk.

This is a subversive film in that there's not the usual worldly character of any American movie that you expect to do whatever he does, but a naive man boy who may still put everything on the line for principles. Maybe. It's certainly no protest-by-numbers though, being too warm. Where U.S. film may seem realistic because they're urban and gritty, this and other British films of recent years - those that don't try to match America for visceral thrills - are real because British humour reveals truths.

Gregory's Two Girls is a sequel to Bill Forsyth's Brit-comedy Gregory's Girl (1981) starring the same John Gordon Sinclair as Gregory, and this time he is no longer in school as a student lusting after a classmate, but as an English teacher. Gregory still has a predilection for schoolgirls and he's got his eyes on Frances, a 15-year old "Celtic beauty" whom he teaches and develops an unusual bond with. As politically incorrect as this set-up sounds, Sinclair makes his character clumsy, insecure and likable and nothing feels racy, even when it tries.

This is a muffled Scottish drama-comedy that tries to be unusual and quirky, but truly lacks edge or humour of any kind. It also attempts more than one storyline, aside from Gregory battling his schoolgirl infatuation there is some sort of ethical dilemma going on with his best friend Fraser Rowan (Dougray Scott) who appears to be secretly selling interactive torture technology to third world countries. I have absolutely no idea what this storyline is all about or where it came from or who thought it would fit in in a film like this, but facilitates the relationship between Gregory and schoolgirl Frances as they both become involved in this dilemma.

Gregory's Two Girls is the kind of film that is relegated to a bad fate and panned by critics and I see why, but isn't an unwatchable experience -- occasionally nicely done, every now and then smirkworthy and above all, it TRIES. A for effort... but it doesn't really deliver. 5/10

Forsyth returns to the site of the small-scale comedy that made his now-battered name with this somewhat ambitious but messy and incompletely developed chronicle of a teacher who talks about responsibility and activism but practices only stagnation, until the discovery that a local computer company is manufacturing torture devices for Third World dictatorships - and the galvanizing influence of a pupil about whom he has erotic fantasies - bring him to belated life. It's easy enough to see what Forsyth had in mind, but the movie isn't at all well integrated - the Big Ideas float like patches of oil on a stagnant loch. The two girls of the title are both merely wet dreams of different kinds (the movie attempts to forge a parallel between his political/social and his personal maturity - the latter of which is achieved by having actress Kennedy hang around in desperation until he's ready for her "ripe" charms); the movie gets its biggest laugh from the well-timed use of the word "beaver"; the happy ending is a total cheat; even the setting isn't particularly well evoked...on the whole it's not likely to significantly revive Forsyth's reputation.

There are many things that can be said about Gregory's Two Girls but i'm afraid not too many of them are good. This film cannot be compared to the original Gregory's girl in any way. This film lacks the charm ,comedy and script that the first film has and the only thing this bore has in common with Gregory's Girl is that it stars the very average John Gordon Sinclair . In this movie he tries to be funny but with a lousy story only manages to look like a poor version of Mr Bean. Another problem about this film is the way the Gregory Character changes as the film goes on. At the start of the film he a such a crush on the school girl that he even has a wet dream about her ( did we have to see the wet patch?)as the film goes on he loses the urge to be with her to the extent that the film has no meaning whatsoever and turns into a stupid , dull story about fighting human rights. Yawn. 5 out of 10.

This film is a travesty, and isn't fit to keep company with the superior original. The plot is an absolute mess, and the film is way too long. Everytime they're struggling, they desperately inject a sentimental reminder from the first film.

"Gregory's Girl" is one of the top 10 British films of all time, this one is awful.