Get Real (1998)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Simon Shore

Writers:

Patrick Wilde (play)
Patrick Wilde (screenplay)

Release Date:

30 April 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

School's out, so is Steven Carter

Plot:

A tenderly romantic coming-of-age story as two boys in a British school fall in love.

Plot Keywords:

School | Coming Out | Writing Contest | Driving Instructor | Changing Room

Awards:

6 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Ben Silverstone	...	Steven Carter
Brad Gorton	...	John Dixon
Charlotte Brittain	...	Linda
Stacy Hart	...	Jessica (as Stacy A. Hart)
Kate McEnery	...	Wendy
Patrick Nielsen	...	Mark
Tim Harris	...	Kevin
James D. White	...	Dave
James Perkins	...	Young Steve
Nicholas Hunter	...	Young Mark
Jacquetta May	...	Steven's Mother
David Lumsden	...	Steven's Father
David Elliot	...	Glen
Morgan Jones	...	Linda's Brother
Richard Hawley	...	English Teacher

MPAA:

Rated R for language and sexual content.

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:L | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | France:U | New Zealand:M | Sweden:7 | UK:15 | USA:R | Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Basingstoke, Hampshire, England, UK

Company:

Arts Council of England

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scene in the school newspaper office, when Mark discovers the anonymous article "Get Real", he reads aloud from the article: "The assumption that your children are heterosexual may be causing them pain." The close-up on the computer screen shows that sentence as: "The assumption that your children are heterosexual may be destroying their lives."

Quotes:

[first lines]
Steven Carter: I came late to sex. I was nearly ten. That's when my friend Mark Watkins told me how babies were made.
Young Steve: Really? Are you sure?
Young Mark: Yeah. Honest. I saw it on one of my dad's videos.
Steven Carter: For over a year after that I thought babies were made when two women tied a man to a bed and covered his willy with ice cream.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Another Gay Movie (2006)

Soundtrack:

Think

WONDERFUL representation of real life young people.

Could a more realistic demonstration of what it is like to be young exist than this film? Don't think so.

A lot of talk centers around how hard growing up is for teenagers. Yet seldom is it mentioned that however hard it is for straight kids to grow up, it is a million times harder for gay kids, who have no one to turn to for help - not friends, not teachers, not parents, not the church, not books, not counselors, not ANYONE. This film shows what it is like. And it further shows the horrid situation that a young gay athlete finds himself in, torn between being able to do what he enjoys (sports) and being able to be himself. When you're gay, you can't have both, thanks to the homophobia which still rules athletics with an iron fist.

The two main characters of this film struggle to maintain a relationship, because they are in love - yet ultimately the homophobic attitudes of the world force them to part. Tragic, yet it is a tale that plays itself out in every little town on the globe. In spite of this, it is a tale never before told on film. It's about time. This should be required viewing for all high school students.