Review – Rita Sue And Bob Too (1987)

Thatcher’s Britain in the 80s was a bleak place to live. Unemployment was at an all time high, prices of pretty much everything went through the roof and poverty was rife. It was grim to say the least. Out of this extremely dark time came this wonderful, low budget comedy, set on the streets of Bradford, and featuring a host of future film and television stars, just beginning their careers, having come from mostly amateur theatre backgrounds.

Rita Sue And Bob Too was the kind of comedy we hadn’t seen the like of before. It was raw, brash and bold enough to tackle subjects no British film had dared to go near up until now. The movie follows the sexual exploits of it’s two leads, Rita, played by Siobahn Finneran, and Sue played by Michelle Holmes, both from a local rundown council estate. The pair regularly babysit for a “fairly well off” couple, Bob and Michelle, played by George Costigan and Leslie Sharpe. While running the two girls home late one night, Bob emabrks on a series of sexual encounters with Rita and Sue, usually in the backseat of the car, and mostly up on the local moors.

The rest of the movie follows these folks through a series of encounters, dramas and life events, leading to what i thought was a fairly upbeat and satisfying conclusion, considering the various shenanigans that led up to it. This is a movie that falls firmly into the “they couldn’t make it nowadays” category. The mere idea of a middle aged man chasing two much younger girls, could have been interpreted as predatory, especially in todays climate, but i have to say it doesn’t come across that way. Obviously a storyline like that would be handled very differently now, but at the time it didn’t seem to do any harm, and was treated as basically saucy fun.

This movie launched the careers of it’s four main leads, and all have enjoyed major success in film and television. The film itself is very much of it’s time. The attitudes are quite obviously outdated now, and quite rightly so, but back in 1987 this is how things were and this is the kind of broad, raunchy comedy we enjoyed. Personally i have loved this film since first watching it way back in the late 80s. I adore it’s raw quality, and the boldness it had, to venture where no film had ever been before or since. If you haven’t yet seen it, and would like to see a snapshot of “Thatchers Britain” in the 80s, this movie captures it perfectly. It’s consistently “laugh out loud” funny. It’s also British comedy with an edge and a foul mouth to match. If easily offended, don’t go near it with a bargepole, but if you’re in the mood for a raunchy, “no holds barred” comedy drama from an era that no longer exists, you could do much worse than spending 90 minutes in the company of these folks……