| Get Real | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Simon Shore |
| Screenplay by | Patrick Wilde |
| Based on | |
| Produced by | Stephen Taylor |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Alan Almond |
| Edited by | Barrie Vince |
| Music by | John Lunn |
Production companies |
|
| Distributed by | Paramount Classics[1] (through United International Pictures)[2] |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 110 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1.2 million[3] |
Get Real is a 1998 British romantic comedy-drama film directed by Simon Shore, based on the play What's Wrong with Angry? by screenwriter Patrick Wilde. The plot centres around the coming of age of a gay teenage boy while growing up in Britain during the Cool Britannia era of the late 1990s. The film was shot and set in and around Basingstoke, England.
Plot
Steven Carter is an intelligent and introverted 16-year-old middle-class schoolboy in Basingstoke, England, who is secretly gay. Bullied at school and misunderstood by his parents, his only confidante is his best friend and next-door neighbour, Linda. One day, Steven, who occasionally cruises the public toilet in a local park, is surprised to find John Dixon, the school's star athlete, also cruising. John denies that he is gay, but is intrigued by Steven and follows him home while his parents are out. In Steven's bedroom, the two boys nearly kiss until John stops himself, insisting he is not gay, and storms off. The next day at school, John ignores Steven.
At a school dance, Steven watches John dancing with Christina Lindmann, a beautiful model, and consoles classmate Jessica after she breaks up with her boyfriend, Kevin, who is also his bully and one of John's best friends. After the dance, John shows up drunk at Steven's house and recounts an experience he had with another boy, whom he pushed away after they kissed. As John breaks down in tears and admits he is scared, Steven comforts him. The two spend the weekend together and start a secret relationship. Meanwhile, Jessica develops feelings for Steven and kisses him, but he is unable to tell her the truth about his homosexuality.
Steven has entered a competition in the local newspaper, intending to submit an article about growing up in the new millennium, but dissatisfied with his article, he fails to submit it. After Steven's father secretly submits his article, he is informed that he has won the competition. One evening, Steven and John meet in the woods, a popular gay cruising spot, but Steven is caught and brought home by the police. A few days later, Steven confronts John after discovering he went on a date with Christina. John insists he only went out with Christina to impress his friends and that he loves Steven.
Tired of concealing his sexuality, Steven submits an anonymous article about being gay to the school magazine, titled "Get Real". He confesses the truth to Jessica, who is supportive. Later, John invites Steven to spend the weekend at his place while his parents are away. When the headmaster forbids the article from being published, the students at the school magazine print an empty page with the word "Censored" in protest. As news of the censored article spread through the school, John confronts Steven after finding he wrote the article, fearing they will be exposed. When Kevin catches John and Steven in an embrace in the locker room, John beats up Steven to save face.
While accepting the prize for the newspaper competition at a school assembly, Steven confesses to writing the censored article and comes out as gay in front of the entire school, tired of feeling alone and longing to be accepted for who he is. Afterwards, Steven reconnects with his mother, who convinces his father that their son needs their support. John apologises to Steven for beating him up and says he loves him. Steven realises John is too afraid to come out and breaks up with him, wishing him happiness. As Steven leaves, Linda picks him up in her car and they drive away.
Cast
- Ben Silverstone as Steven Carter
- Brad Gorton as John Dixon
- Charlotte Brittain as Linda
- Stacy A. Hart as Jessica
- Kate McEnery as Wendy
- Patrick Nielsen as Mark
- Tim Harris as Kevin Grainger
- James D. White as Dave
- Jacquetta May as Steven's mother
- David Lumsden as Steven's father
- David Elliot as Glen
- Morgan Jones as Linda's brother
- Richard Hawley as English teacher
- Louise J. Taylor as Christina Lindmann
- Steven Elder as Bob, the driving instructor
- David Paul West as bridegroom
- Andy Rashleigh as policeman
- Ian Brimble as John's father
- Judy Buxton as John's mother
- Martin Milman as headmaster
Production
Development
In 1992, Patrick Wilde wrote What's Wrong with Angry? a stage play about a gay love story between two British schoolboys. Wilde said that he wrote the play because "I was sick of being told by people – even gay people – that it's easier to be gay now... But I don't believe it's easier than it ever was to come out."[4] What's Wrong with Angry? first opened at the LOST Theatre in 1993 in Fulham, London and was then staged in January 1994 at the Oval House in London, where it sold out and was extended for an extra week at the Battersea Arts Centre (BAC) Studio. After the final performance, film director Simon Shore and producer Steven Taylor approached Wilde about producing a film version of the play.[5]
During the early development of the script the production had the working title of Sweet Sixteen.[5]
During development, director Simon Shore and writer Patrick Wilde, struggled to find a way to make heterosexual audiences understand why Steven was so tortured by staying in the closet. Shore later recalled that he "got Patrick to write a list of 20 reasons why it's bad to be gay and not come out" and that this list became a template for how they would make Steven's predicament comprehensible. For example, one item on Wilde's list was, "Girls fall in love with you, and you don't know what to tell them", which prompted a subplot in which a girl at school has a crush on Steven. "I wanted some way of identifying with the way Steven's being gay impacts everyone in his circle of friends", Shore says.[6]
Filming
Filming on Get Real began on 17 August 1997 with shooting taking place throughout Basingstoke, including at Cranbourne School, Alton School, Market Square, Foyle Park, Sorrell's Corpse and the War Memorial Park.[7]
The Vyne Community School which was used as the principal location for the fictional Belvedere School in the film.[8]
Filming in Basingstoke ended on 21 September, with production moving on to the Millennium Studios in Borehamwood on the 22nd of September, where filming took place in the studio of scenes shot in Steven's bedroom and the inside of the public toilet. The entire movie took six weeks to shoot.[7]
Music
| Get Real: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by various artists | |
| Released | 1 June 1999 (1999-06-01) |
| Genre | |
| Length | 50:28 |
| Label | BMG |
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [9] |
Get Real: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on 1 June 1999 by BMG on CD. Along with John Lunn's score, the album features tracks like Republica's "Ready to Go", the Troggs' "Love Is All Around", Cameo's "Word Up!" and Dodgy's "Staying Out for the Summer". A few songs that were featured in the film, including Aretha Franklin's "Respect" and "Think", Backstreet Boys' "If You Want It to Be Good Girl (Get Yourself a Bad Boy)", Kings of Infinite Space's "Misunderstood" and Charlotte Brittain's "Bobby's Girl", were omitted from the soundtrack due to copyright issues from their record labels.[9]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Performer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Staying Out for the Summer" |
| Dodgy | 3:11 |
| 2. | "Word Up!" |
| Cameo | 4:18 |
| 3. | "Shine" |
| Liberty Horses | 4:04 |
| 4. | "Ready to Go" | Republica | 5:00 | |
| 5. | "Play That Funky Music" | Rob Parissi | Dave Danger & the Chris Cawte Funk Band | 3:54 |
| 6. | "Swings" | John Lunn | Münchner Symphoniker | 1:08 |
| 7. | "You Are So Beautiful" | Ian Harrison | 2:42 | |
| 8. | "Love Is All Around" | Reg Presley | The Troggs | 2:57 |
| 9. | "Inbetweener" | Louise Wener | Sleeper | 3:18 |
| 10. | "Realisation" | John Lunn | Münchner Symphoniker | 1:50 |
| 11. | "El Tranquilandia" | Paul Gallagher | North Pacific Drift | 3:29 |
| 12. | "Beautiful One" | Robert White | The Milk and Honey Band | 3:12 |
| 13. | "OM-23" |
| Drug Free America | 7:35 |
| 14. | "Get Real Suite" | John Lunn | Münchner Symphoniker | 3:50 |
Release
Get Real had its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in August 1998 where it won the Audience award.[10] Paramount Classic then purchased the film for distribution. It was released on 30 April 1999 in the United States[11] and on 14 May 1999 in the United Kingdom, where the opening took place in Basingstoke where the story is set and the majority of the filming had taken place.[5]
Home media
The film was released on VHS in the United Kingdom on 22 January 2001[12] and on DVD in the United States on 7 November 2017.[13]
Reception
Box office
On its opening weekend in the United States, Get Real earned $54,254, while on the following weekend, it earned $55,752 and on its third $78,100.[11] The film grossed a worldwide total of $1.2 million.[3]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 79% of 47 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The website's consensus reads: "An authentic portrayal of homosexuality in high school, Get Real is an engaging dramedy that doesn't sermonize its audience nor trivialize its characters."[14]
In the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Paula Nechak praised the film for allowing the characters to be themselves rather than change to fit in, and praises the treatment of the 'jock' character, John, as being just as bound by the school popularity game as Steven.[15]
Roger Ebert commented, "Certainly this film has deeper values than the mainstream teenage comedies that retail aggressive materialism, soft-core sex and shallow ideas about "popularity."[16] Steven Holden from The New York Times wrote, "The movie captures the excruciating paranoia of a situation in which there's nowhere the lovers can be alone except in each other's homes on the rare occasions their parents are out."[16]
In the Daily Record, Siobhan Synnot criticised the film as being like a "preachy episode of Grange Hill with cardboard cut-out characters" and also criticised the character, John, for being unbelievable, describing him as "simply a bland fantasy hunk. It's hard to see how this dim bulb is bright enough for Oxford, because all the smart lines go to his smart-alec boyfriend."[17]
The film ranked number 34 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the "50 Best High School Movies".[18]
Accolades
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 1998 Edinburgh International Film Festival | Audience Award | Get Real | Won | [5] |
1999 |
1998 Dinard British Film Festival |
Golden Hitchcock |
Simon Shore | Won | [5] |
| Audience Award | |||||
| 1999 British Independent Film Awards | Achievement in Production | Get Real | Nominated | [19] | |
| 10th International Filmfestival Emden-Norderney | Berhard Wicki Award | Get Real | Won | [20] | |
| 1st Golden Trailer Awards | Best Trailer with No Budget | Get Real | Nominated | [21] | |
| 2000 | Chlotrudis Awards | Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor | Ben Silverstone | Nominated | [22] |
References
- Carver, Benedict (10 May 1999). "Production gamble". Variety. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
- "Get Real". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on 20 October 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
- "Get Real (1998)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 5 June 2026.
- "Draining the Drama: Simon Shore's Get Real". Bright Lights Film Journal. 2 November 1999. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
- "The History of Get Real". Ben Silverstone. 24 November 2023. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
- Argy, Stephanie (20 January 1999). "Simon Shore". Variety. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
- "Filming Locations". Ben Silverstone. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
- "The Vyne School". Ben Silverstone. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
- Phares, Heather. "Get Real [Original Soundtrack]". AllMusic. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
- "Get Real". Mubi. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
- "Get Real (1998) – Domestic Weekend". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 5 June 2026.
- "Get Real". Amazon. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
- "Get Real". Amazon. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
- "Get Real". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 5 June 2026.
- Nechak, Paula (11 June 1999). "Non-judgmental 'Get Real' gracefully allows its diverse characters to 'be'". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - Ryll, Alexander (2014). "Essential Gay Themed Films To Watch, Get Real". Gay Essential. Archived from the original on 23 December 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
- Synnot, Siobhan (14 May 1999). "Gay stereotypes should stay firmly in the closet". Daily Record. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
- "50 Best High School Movies". Entertainment Weekly. 28 August 2015. Archived from the original on 18 September 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
- "Winners & Nominations - The Awards 1999". British Independent Film Awards. 24 October 1999. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
- "Previous Award Winners". International Filmfestival Emden-Norderney. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
- "GTA1 Program Book (1999)". Golden Trailer Awards. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
- "Chlotrudis Society for Independent Films - 2000, 6th Annual Awards". Chlotrudis Society for Independent Films. Retrieved 28 July 2024.