Customer Reviews
A film which hasn't worn well - By: Bill, 16 Jun 2008 
Allegedly 'groundbreaking' when released, what's surprising today is how theatrical & shamelessly unrealistic this film is. Frears creates a surreal London night landscape which is mostly lit with coloured gels, peopled by bootshod racist yobs who would be more at home in A Clockwork Orange, & besuited Asian mafiosi who try (and fail) to look mean. All this could be quite entertaining, except the visuals are let down by a Kureishi's awful, clunking script & some very wooden acting - even Day-Lewis looks awkward & embarrassed. The synth-driven original soundtrack is wince-inducing.
Ridicuous - By: Mr. Sagar Karandikar, 18 Mar 2007 
Its a story of a young Pakistani gay person,who is hard working, humble, etc etc,well supported by his own community,who finds success in his smalll business of launderette.
The story never appeals you.Scenes such as the one where a young Moslem girl lifts her top off to show her boobs to her would be man, in front of some 15 other people, alll men , come across as just immature.Or the one where the lead gay man is having sex with his mate in his laundertte, while his own uncle is dancing Waltz with a pompous White mistress in the same Laundrette, oblivious of each other.... I mean,give us a break.
There is a conspicuous absence of dialgues. Many scenes end without much said. The film is just not there.
A brilliant film - By: , 07 Feb 2006 
This film being low budget has relied heavily on the weight of its plot. It is a gentle but effective exploration of a difficult love affair between the Indian son of an alcoholic & a suicide victim & a British child of the BNP & the thatcher regime. And they are both men. Romeo & Juliet thought that they had problems.
Though this is essentiallly a love story it's also about the dynamics between the Indian family, Uncle's affair with a white woman is paralelled with the affair of the two men. The complete breakdown of the family structure is explored from the suicide of the main character's mother to the dissapearance of Uncle's daughter.
Really interesting - By: Benjamin Hall, 03 Dec 2005 At (currently) £3.97 on amazon, it would be appropriate to pay blockbuster prices for this - it is sensitive, engaging, & deeply affecting. It is essentiallly a commentary on Thatcher's Britain, racism & asian identity, the gay romance between the central characters is in service of this & does not dominate as might be expected. In other words, this film is not primarily a piece of gay cinema but a far-reaching bit social drama, & a thoroughly immersive one at that. Food for thought.
Highly recommended.
dated - By: Klaus Meyer, 22 Jun 2004 
My beautiful Laundrette was a great hit in her time, a low budged movie showing the down sides of the Thater period & first showed gay issues, especiallly in the Asian community.
But since 1986 the world has developed, gay issues are hardly any longer sensational & the Thatcher period is over & absorbed in UK reality. So the whole movie is about a time gone & there is not much which you can take on board for our present time.
All in alll, the movie is still good, but dated & I felt quite a bit bored by it.
