I'll move across the pond for the next two reviews, since I got a request to review Maurice (haven't seen that movies in years, so I will need to go search for it) and Zombie, who rarely ever agrees with my actions , are both products of Great Britain. I will start this off with a familiar movie to almost every gay guy, "Beautiful thing" (1998). I didn't know about the play until a while later, but I have not seen it on stage sadly.

This is the grandfather movie of the gay film cliches; Its impact is far reaching in my generation's films.

I freely admit it, I can see lines of derivative gay teenage angst plots that were born from this movie in movies like the recent 2013 Outfest award winner "Geography Club" (I have only three words to review that movie, "Gay Breakfast Club" that is actually forgettable ).

Let me recap the plot, Jamie is your quiet sensitive boy, who no one understands, and Ste is your rough and tough boy, who harbors a lot of inner turmoil from an abusive home life. Jamie's mother Sandra is an ambitious woman, who wants to open a pub, but she has issues finding love for herself. Add to the mix, Leah, basically your stereotypical black drug addicted party girl with a British accent and listens to Cass Elliot instead of 50 cent, different musical taste I guess (if the film was done in America in 1998 Boyz to Men or tupac)

One night Ste gets badly beaten at home and Sandra takes him in. He sleeps in the same bed with Jamie and eventually they fall for one another.

The rest of the plot is simple, Ste freaks out that he ain't gay, has a big breakup with Jamie, they make up and give in to each others' love.

They face society's backlash, the mother has a test of conscience and works to accepting her son's relationship, and they live happily ever after.

Watching the movie now, I find it derivative and kind of boring at times due to the dated humor, probably due to knowing the story and all the characters inside and out. True, it is a well acted and paced movie, plus the characters are very memorable. I still remember LEah's freak out. I still remember Ste's wandering around looking to find himself and accepting his sexuality. I still remember Jamie's self assertive attitude that makes him a great gay characterin my book. I remember the scenes of the run down flats, which are approximate to the American subsidized housing complexes.

However, the movie's own effect on gay cinema has caught up with its quality.

There's an old Chinese proverb usually associated with creating dynasties and empires, but I will use it for film making in a certain genre: "You can only create greatness once, repeating its action will diminish the successors' worth, until the depravity of the successor has ruined the original greatness before it."

If you have not seen this movie before, I do recommend it. If you have seen it before, I would also recommend trying it out, because you realize something about its impact on gay films.

I chose to review this movie first, because its one I know very well and I loved at one point. I still like it and I know its importance now to other films that I like, but it has lost its beauty with age. Without beauty, it merely becomes a "thing", the generic gay movie of teenage angst.

I'll break the mode with this rating, but I think it's fair,

I rate it 8 out 10, a good movie, worth the watch if you never seen it. Also worth a re-watch, if you want to see it again. However, it has lost something over its time as the top gay movie in the world.

Rotten Tomatoes has it at 90% fresh, but I feel like this movie is "seasoned" and might be getting too ripe due to time. Maybe, I am on the rating minority of this one.