Gregory's Two Girls

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

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.

John Gordon Sinclair returns as Gregory Underwood. Bill Forsyth returns as writer/director. Gregory is back at his school now as the awkward English teacher fantasizing about his student Frances. Bel Jordan (Maria Doyle Kennedy) is a co-worker who is throwing herself at him without any success. He's a sofa activist. With his talks as inspiration, Frances and Doug investigates Gregory's former schoolmate Fraser Rowan (Dougray Scott) of exporting electronic torture machines.

I love the original which has an innocent charm and the awkward teenage hormones. Gregory is still obsessed with teen girls despite being 20 years later. It is very off-putting. I'm not even complaining about the disappearance of the love story with Susan although that would be a good sequel. I thought the torture machines idea is absolutely ridiculous. Everything seems wrong and flies in the face of the charming original. Then I surrender to the silly sincerity of the torture machines search. It keeps getting sillier and more sincere at the same time with the arrival of Maddy and her arrogant boyfriend. I had to laugh at the turn. The characters grow on me. Eventually I'm going along with the movie but the final ending pissed me off. It is the pettiest of vandalism and I was expecting the torture machine in the back of the truck. This is quite a step down from the original.

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.

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.