Beautiful Creatures (2000)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Bill Eagles

Writer:

Simon Donald (writer)

Release Date:

19 January 2001 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | Thriller | Crime | Drama

Tagline:

Dorothy & Petula Have A Body To Die For

Plot:

Two girls thrown together by their boyfriends' violence accidentally kill one of them.

Plot Keywords:

Violence | Pump Action Shotgun | Bathroom | Elevator | Volvo

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Susan Lynch	...	Dorothy
Iain Glen	...	Tony
Jake D'Arcy	...	Train Guard
Rachel Weisz	...	Petula
Tom Mannion	...	Brian McMinn
Maurice Roëves	...	Ronnie McMinn
Paul Doonan	...	Man in Lift
Robin Laing	...	Garage Attendant
Pauline Lynch	...	Sheena
John Murtagh	...	Man on Beach
Shane Cadzow	...	Small Boy on Beach
Juliet Cadzow	...	Mother on Beach
Alex Norton	...	Det Insp Hepburn
Stewart Preston	...	Duty Sergeant
Ron Donachie	...	Police Pathologist

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence and sexuality, drug use and language.

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

New Zealand:R18 | Argentina:16 | Germany:18 | Spain:18 | UK:18 | USA:R | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland, UK

Company:

Arts Council of England

Quotes:

Man in Elevator: Somebody smells nice.
Dorothy: Don't look at me. It's the dog.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Thelma & Louise (1991)

Soundtrack:

Girls Like Us

Not as good as the promoters tell you, but better than the critics do

Try-hard film noir that is not unwatchable, but doesn't quite fulfil its promises of black humour and quirky unpredictability. There are laughs at times, but they come courtesy of that most simplistic of methods: cross-linking back to previous gags or plot references, so that the viewer and director can share a little in-joke and a double entendre or two, at the expense of the characters. A set of golf clubs, some homemade anal-sex porn and an acrylic paint-dyed dog feature heavily in all this cross-referencing. It's mildly amusing, sure, but hardly brilliant or incisively witty.

The film has no positive or endearing male characters: the two boyfriends are violent woman-beaters, the businessman Ronnie is brutal, paranoid and greedy, the detective is bent and sexually-driven. Even a minor male character, a young service-station attendant, is hooked on bondage magazines. No effort is spared to make the two female characters seem redeeming or justified as they lie, murder and extort their way through the film. Oh yes, they were battered, exploited and manipulated by their paramours, long-term sufferers of 'victim syndrome' we can accept that; but that just makes the core plot of the film - their rebellion and violent revenge against male dominance - to be not only implausible but also equally immoral.

A film panned by the critics, not completely fairly, Beautiful Creatures - or perhaps its promoters - just fell into the trap of trying to be something that it's not, and promising more than it delivered: it ain't Tarantino or 'Thelma and Louise' or 'Death Wish for Feminists', nor is it great comedic farce. But it doesn't deserve its low rating on IMDb (5.7 at the time of writing) and is worth a look.