SnoopyStyle Johnny Burfoot (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a squatter in rundown abandoned houses. Hussein "Papa" Ali gets his son Omar a job with his successful uncle Nasser at his car wash. Papa is a drunken disillusioned socialist reporter from Bombay. Omar gets hassled by a group of whites but he is saved by their leader Johnny who is his childhood friend. Nasser lets Omar manage the run down laundrette. Omar hires Johnny to work for him.Director Stephen Frears brings some of the new Pakistani flavor into his London movie. I don't think Gordon Warnecke is particularly nuanced and is not really leading man material. Frears has the great fortune of casting Daniel Day-Lewis. He's wonderful and so is Roshan Seth. The look is more or less TV production level. This has some very compelling scenes dealing with very serious issues.

lasttimeisaw Under the iron curtain of Thatcherism in the 1980s, UK veteran Stephen Frears' fourth feature film is an ethnic barrier-breaker in the world queer cinema, much as its fervid confrontations between races and social classes, the central closeted romance between an ex-punk Johnny (Day-Lewis) and a Pakistani Briton Omar (Warnecke) is nurtured with robust intimacy and élan. Enclosed by a synth-pop heavy pulse, the film starts with Johnny and his gang being expelled from their squatting apartment by some heavies, a similar territory Daniel Day-Lewis would retread in IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER (1993), then cutting to introduce another protagonist, Omar, a college dropout sent to work for his uncle Nasser (Jaffrey) by his bed-ridden father (Seth), a disillusioned idealist and leftist), in Nasser's car-washing lot, Omar meets Nasser's business partner Salim (Branche), a menacing and overbearing bully who conducts some seedy business and Nasser's mistress Rachel (Anne Field), who assumes a quite modernized view of being the other woman, but the entire entanglement will end up with some ludicrous witchcraft. Omar is ambitious and fast-learning, soon he gets the permission to run Nasser's dilapidated laundromat, and reunites with Johnny, who has been his best friend since childhood, together they embezzle the dough from Salim's underhand drug smuggling and refurbish the laundrette and make a successful business, their romance is also rekindled. But at the same time, Omar is obliged by Nasser to marry his disobedient daughter Tania (Wolf), and Johnny is reckoned as a betrayer by his ne'er-do-well gang members since he is working for Palestinians (also as an unscrewer for kick out Nasser's impecunious tenants), in addition to the conflict between Omar and Salim, there will be blood in the end. Violence is a requisite in depicting the gulf between well-off immigrants and poverty-stricken native malcontents, xenophobia, racial bias and chauvinism, all can be easily related and incited under the harsh environs, but Frears doesn't attempt to make a point by resorting too much to the excesses, whereas the tender, masculine attraction between two men is rendered with cozy panache and passion, truly, it is an in-the-closet relationship, but it is not about coming-out or AIDs, these routine trappings of the era, their future might be a moot point, however, the virtue of their love strikes as comfortingly authentic and endearing, thanks to the great pair Warnecke and Day-Lewis, one is resolutely sincere and the other is overwhelmingly charismatic, they do make a desirable couple together! Juxtaposed with its peers like MAURICE (1987, 7/10) and ANOTHER COUNTRY (1984, 8/10), MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE's grassroots ambiance and buoyant undertones applicably complement the missing piece of the UK queer cinema menagerie, not revolutionary, but a wonderful bliss indeed.

Wendy Godsend "My Beautiful Laundrette" is most commonly advertised as a drama and comedy, though the richly symbolic romantic aspect between the main two boys is what quietly takes the show. I have never seen a relationship in film that comes close to the classic, inspiring, well-known pair of Johnny and Omar.Johnny, who seemingly takes the lead in their sexual and romantic relationship, is a white, rough-and-tumble street punk caught up in a small gang and going nowhere. Omar is a bright-eyed, handsome Pakistani boy who takes care of his father, and when a taste of work comes his way, wants nothing more than "big money" and to prove the country he lives in will not beat him. Johnny's lust and love for Omar is apparent from the start, and in a handsomely unique and unpredictable fashion, their business relationship is reversed on terms of who leads who, providing an interesting dynamic between them.Omar's warm, eager demeanor and Johnny's quiet, sideways glances tell the audience about the previous foundation of their past relationship within the first twenty seconds of their meeting. I couldn't imagine that sort of raw, unspoken integrity ever being so successfully accomplished without these two actors and the fantastic chemistry between their characters.Johnny's absolute loyalty to Omar is heartwarming, promising, and honest. He wants nothing more than to prove his love and partnership with everything he has, and he offers it all - his work, his love, and sex. Omar reciprocates his love with forgiveness and, despite being the boss in their business relationship, his consistent admiration toward Johnny is apparent, deep and romantic. He changes into a more confident and proud man with Johnny by his side.Daniel Day-Lewis(Johnny) and Gordon Warnecke(Omar)'s performances were, I will say once more, just spectacular. I have never seen any bit of film quite as passionate, honest nor as erotic as the scene where Johnny and Omar make love. I've been inspired by seeing the tenderness and moving passion of both their love and general partnership - their compatibility is demonstrated by their determination to stay together, despite what happens in the midst of the insanity the film provides.I will say that it is also very real, however, and therefore it does have its rough moments and ups and downs like any relationship between two people should. I won't say too much aside from that I thought the ending was sweet and it took me by surprise, not bothering with a few loose ties if only to inspire lovely ambiguity.There is much more to "My Beautiful Laundrette" than Johnny and Omar's romantic relationship, but the symbolism it serves - as representing the hopeful future, their business, how the world sees them - relates to all aspects of the film. Daniel Day-Lewis and Gordon Warnecke's performances alone are enough of a reason to give it a watch.If you'd like to see a smart, witty, beautiful love story rich in symbolism and more substance than a single review could do justice for, I'd recommend you do yourself a favor by watching "My Beautiful Laundrette."

damittaja I watched this movie because my wife wanted to see it. I didn't have very high expectations for it and I knew what the plot would be because I had read the IMDb summary. I've happened to watch some movies lately which have been way better than the ratings they've had but this one most definitely does not go into that bunch. The plot did go through following some weird script but the problem was that they probably had cut away a lot events that were not central. Scenes would end abruptly or jump to a totally different scene or atmosphere. It made the characters and events a tad too hard to follow. At many points during the movie I was baffled at why the characters did what they did. However, if the point was to depict the chaotic life of people living on the streets and how they supposedly don't behave rationally, this movie succeeded in that goal.The movie is defined as comedy/drama/romance. There were a few funny things I laughed, I admit, but not nearly enough to warrant a comedy definition. Mostly the movie was drama and romance. The drama was OK, all the characters had problems with life and so on and they tried to cope with the difficult and unfair situations they encountered themselves in. The romance part...well, not my thing here. I guess the movie tried to be provocative and probably was back in 1985 when it was first released but now it was just a bit silly. There was this "dangerous love" element in it and it just didn't work out. The script was no good and the actors quite stiff.Also, the sounds were horrible. I don't even know how you can fail with 80's music but this movie did just that.If you are looking for a movie with such a love theme as this one I guess the movie will be OK for you as my wife informed me that the movie was OK but for me it was a pain to watch through.