Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Justina The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

jayfawn OK.This is going to be shallow I've read the other review on this film and this is graded E compared to them but please let me say my thoughts on this wonderful masterpiece.I didn't expect Im going to like it since I had a hard time understanding Brits accent(and English language in general) what I get is Karl / Kim (Steven Mackintosh) is having a trouble on her life because she's a trans plus its gotten even worse when she met her lost best friend Paul Prentice (Rupert Graves), this menace ruined her reserved and peaceful live. Fortunately this ends up on sweet,erotic happy ending.And the love scene is very moving. I almost forgot there is somebody sitting next to me.

moonmonday Generally I am not as forgiving with 'GLBT films', and that is due to the fact that most of them fall into the same old, same old patterns and often come off as either stereotypical or insulting. When I heard about this film, I thought it might actually be an amusing diversion.However, that couldn't be far from the truth; for one thing it's neither funny nor witty (except on a decidedly sophomoric level), and in fact it's a bleak and depressing affair with no attention given to entertainment of any kind. For another it's very poorly realised; if they knew they couldn't show something convincingly, they shouldn't have done so at all. In the completely gratuitous nude scene 'Kim' and her breasts look like hollow plastic bought on the cheap at a Halloween sale. Last but not least of all, everyone in it is so badly-directed and, well, badly-everything: the truth about 'Kim' is easily guessed from the outset as they chose a horse-faced actor to portray 'her', and the usually charming and handsome Rupert Graves is woefully miscast in a role that is jarringly inappropriate for him. A talented actor he is indeed, but along with everyone else he was not convincing in the look or character he portrayed here.Likewise gratuitous is the scene where he flops out his phallus for no convincing reason other than for the makers of the film to say they included front male nudity, a common thread in most GLBT films that would otherwise not draw any audience whatsoever. It's employed much the same way here, incongruous and groan-worthy. One can only imagine Rupert really needed the paycheck. Completing the trilogy of gratuitousness is the subplot with the sister, which comes literally out of nowhere and takes its time finding its way back to exactly the same place.If you like watching films along the calibre of the abysmal Lifetime network Movies of the Week, this will be right up your alley. If you prefer something less condescending and more cerebral, less stereotypical and more unique, look for something else. Essentially this film is nothing more than a stock female 'romantic comedy' -- with inclusions of 'comedy' that can barely be called token -- with a gratuitous transsexual 'twist' to it, and that is handled in an extremely unconvincing way by both characters and actors.Perhaps I just don't see the point of another film where a male 'falls in love' with a female (whatever the circumstances), especially since it's just unnecessarily complicated by a contrived backstory. This is nothing more than a stock film with unexceptional performances, poor direction, bad makeup and costumes, and atrocious casting that attempts to incorporate a single 'controversial' quality to make it seem 'edgy' and thus somehow worthy of praise. These sorts of filmmakers know all too well that the LGBT community does, on the whole, latch protectively onto any film that gives even the remotest positive portrayal of any of their number, and they take advantage of it. I really wish more of us included in that number could see through transparent, lamentably bad attempts like this to simply draw undeserved praise for nothing special.

Don3620 Having seen both Soldiers Girl and Different for Girls I wouldn't even compare the 2. There are 2 different circumstances. #1 Justin Fisher and Calvin Glover are still serving time for their part in Barry Winchell's murder as this one was based on a true story. The other being that Different for Girls is fictional and the only problem Prentiss had was struggling with the fact that he now wanted his best mate from school for his love interest (after she was post-op).This is an excellent film and I have watched it 4 times in 2 days and it is not a bit boring. In fact there is some excitement in it as I find Prentiss needs Kim to help him grow up.I am not going to pick this film apart as to who is in what picture or the makeup wardrobe or prosthetics used or how Karl became Kim etc. I just thought it was an excellent and enjoyable film

tsofi Missed this first time round, but unintentionally caught a late night/early hours TV airing in the UK. Steve Mackintosh sustains a serious dramatic presence and role as Kim against the heavily scripted comedic/stereotype 'unreformed male' buffoonery of the friend/partner Paul Prentice played by Rupert Graves. Although at times the dynamic of the two styles gives an uneven feel to the whole narrative, the underlying point of apparent complete contrasts, but underlying and overlapping commonality of involvement and feeling is well made. Some of the scenes are intensely moving, particularly those in the police station when Kim is facing arrest and conviction and is placed alone in a cell, uncertain of whether she will face the immediate unwelcome company of another unknown male cellmate, and/or eventual consignment to a male prison. This is hardly comedy, certainly real life drama, and contains the essence of real tragedy. Other scenes in the film evoke similar high tensions in emotional colour and reading. Overall delivery was a little uneven, but well worth viewing again. Would be worth a full 'in-line drama' remake of the theme, as other commentators have also hinted. A good attempt at a very difficult subject which manages to hit the right emotional responses without actually falling off the tightrope between banality and exploitation.