Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20938 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-02-22
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 110 minutes

Amazon.com
Get Real begins with a couple of hedgehogs having sex, and deals with a topic just as prickly: gay love in adolescence. Steve (Ben Silverstone) is a student at a British school where everyone wears classy uniforms, knows he's gay, and is pretty comfortable being so. John (Brad Gorton), a top athlete and all-around admired guy, is just getting an inkling and isn't sure how he feels about it. This, cleverly, is how the movie manages to explore coming-out issues and be over them at the same time. In fact, the whole movie is pretty clever--witty dialogue, deft direction, nimble pacing, and clean editing--in exploring the seriousness of adolescent life without taking it too seriously. The key is in Silverstone's performance; he's a completely convincing mixture of hesitation and recklessness, all the conflicts of high school in one sweet-faced package. As the movie follows Steve and John's relationship--their evasions at school, getting picked up by the police in a park, goofing around in a heated swimming pool, grappling with coming out to the world at large--it lays out a bit of contrast with Steve's best friend Linda (Charlotte Brittain), who's as unapologetically fat as Steve is gay, and who's having an affair with her driving instructor. Excellent performances all around, funny, sexy, charming--if only straight teen comedies were half this good. Get Real even demonstrates the proper etiquette when soliciting sex in public restrooms; what more can you ask for? --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

Perhaps the best "coming out" movie ever made....
"Get Real" combines a terrific script with superb acting. Steven Carter is one of the best gay teen characters ever written, portrayed touchingly and realistically by Ben Silverstone. He is simultaneously geeky and sexy, awkward and self-assured, yet underneath his fears and self-doubts there is always a ray of self-acceptance and sense of humor about his predicaments that comes shining through.

You will marvel at Steven's courage, empathize with his pain, and just simply fall in love with this complex and totally adorable young man. His love interest, another complex character, is also brilliantly played. Steven's next-door neighbor and (female) best friend is the only character who comes across as somewhat stereotypical (an overweight fag-hag type), yet her performance avoids the pitfalls that the stereotypical characterization could've created.

The quirky humor the director interjects throughout the film will catch you off guard at times - during the scene inside the park men's room, when the soundtrack started playing The Troggs' "Love is All Around", I had to supress an urge to laugh uproariously and at the top of my lungs (I first saw the film in a theater).

"Get Real" is a "must see" for anyone who knows what it feels like to be young, gay & in the closet, and also for straight folk who wish to understand the difficulties GLBT people have to face, even in our contemporary, allegedly "enlightened" world.

VERY real
No wonder this film has prompted so many positive appraisals. The cast is perfect and comely. The story is gritty, witty, funny, touching, and true. It's about being in the closet (whether you're married or just in high school), and the painful process of deciding to come out -- or not. Steve (Ben Silverstone) knows he's gay but, isolated by his feelings, only has secretive, anonymous sex. Johnny (Brad Gorton) is the handsome high-school hero headed for Oxford. He is paralyzed by fear and loneliness, being so deeply in the closet. They accidentally hook up in a public bathroom and, despite Johnny's misgivings, eventually get together. Their moments of private happiness -- understated, gentle, and sweet -- are among the loveliest on screen. Affectionate and comfortable when they are alone, the jock is also terrified that their 'secret' will come out, and he has a very hard time dealing with Steve's gradual emergence from hiding. One hopes for their union but can, at the same time, see the fall coming. Johnny is ultimately a coward, his heroics on the sports field notwithstanding. The straight men, in general, do not come off at all well. Steve's father is withdrawn and unsupportive, though we are given to believe that he will come around. The high school boys are, without exception, mindless jerks. Certainly, Pre-Stonewall, Steve could never have 'come out' on film, much less at his high school awards ceremony! But, that having been said, it is apparently just as dangerous and terrifying for young people now -- in a still-repressed, still-suppressed, and violently homophobic society -- as it ever has been. That is the sad message of this film, along with the one of hope for Steve.

A funny, moving gay coming-of-age story
"Get Real" is a great gay coming-of-age story. This British film has a screenplay by Patrick Wilde and is directed by Simon Shore. It stars Ben Silverstone as Steven Carter, a teenage schoolboy who's looking for gay love and sex. He's only out of the closet to his friend Linda (played by Charlotte Brittain), who feels like an outsider herself because of her large weight. The film follows Steven as he deals with the joys, pain, and frustration of being a gay youth.

"Get Real" certainly touches on some controversial issues, such as teenage sexual activity and public "cruising" for sex. But I believe the filmmakers handle these and other issues with intelligence and sensitivity. Stephen is a writer, so the role of the student press is also a factor in the story.

Wilde's script has some really engrossing dialogue, and Shore directs his scenes with grace and skill. Classic songs are cleverly used throughout the film to underscore the characters' emotional states.

It's the outstanding performances of "Get Real" that really make this film excellent. Silverstone shines in the title role; he brings a rich blend of strength, vulnerability, impishness, and sexual energy to his character. Much of the film rests on his shoulders, and he succeeds totally. Silverstone has great onscreen chemistry with gal pal Brittain, who brings a nice dash of spice to her character. Other strong performances are turned in by Brad Gorton (as the school jock who is the object of Steve's affection) and Jacquetta May (as Steve's mother).

"Get Real" is a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining film, but it is also a film which deals with serious sociological issues in a compelling and compassionate way. The film vividly explores the burdens faced by gay youth: homophobic harrassment from classmates, internalized homophobia, etc. But ultimately I found this to be an uplifting and hopeful film. Highly recommended, especially for high school teachers and counselors.