Sadly Over-hyped

How sad is this?

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Rita is a twenty six year old hairdresser, who's only had a basic education, after a long time deliberating she joins an open University course with Doctor Frank Bryant, she wants to change her life, and instantly changes his life.There aren't enough superlatives I can throw at these two, my favourite performance to this day from Michael Caine, he's funny, tragic, captivating and totally engaging. He bounces so well off a young Julie Walters, for my money one of the best British actresses of all time, her performance is sensational, you truly see Rita develop throughout the film. A shame Lipman didn't get more screen time, the few minutes she's on, she's brilliant.I've never forgotten that phrase 'assonance means getting the rhyme wrong.'It has some incredibly funny moments, Brian's phone calls to his agents, Rita's early outbursts. It has some truly sad moments, where Denny burns her books, and it boasts a moment of devastation, poor Maureen Lipman's character Trish.It's a fabulous film, I know many see it as an Eighty's Pygmalion story, but it's so much more then that, it's a social character study, which is acted to perfection. A great film. 9/10

Michael Caine plays a disillusioned literature professor who partly regains his passion when a young, working class woman played by Julie Walters hires him as her tutor. She has a unique way of looking at the world which amuses him, and a difficult-to-understand desire to learn that inspires him. In all honesty, the screenplay is pretty mediocre. I can't believe it was nominated for an Oscar. The beats are all obvious, and its message comes across as borderline despicable. But it's always an entertaining film. Then there's Walters. She brings the film to a higher plane with her amazing performance. Caine is fine. It's not one of his best performances, but it's good. Walters, though, oh my God. I was just glued to the screen every second she was on it, and I just loved listening to her speak. It's quite incredible, and I think she should have won the Oscar over Shirley MacLaine that year. Rita is one of my favorite movie characters ever, and, whatever else the story here is doing, I always loved her.

The highlight of this movie is without doubt the performances of Michael Caine and Julie Walters. They were superb together, each latching on to their roles perfectly, and with a marvellous on screen chemistry together. Those strong performances were essential to make this movie work, because of the subject matter. Essentially a retelling of Shaw's "Pygmalion" set in the contemporary world of a university campus, the story isn't at all original (although it has a few twists) but Caine and Walters make it worth watching.Caine is Dr. Frank Bryant, an English Professor who obviously struggles with demons of his own, in a relationship that isn't working well and spending a good deal of his time drunk, even when he's teaching. Into his life comes Rita (Walters), whose real name is Susan. She's an Open University student who wants to overcome her working class roots and become educated and cultured. She has to overcome opposition from her own husband and family, who are upset with her because she's been married six years and hasn't had a baby yet - which they seem to feel is her only purpose in life. Bryant and Rita develop a bond and help each other overcome their personal challenges and find transformation. Rita leaves her husband behind and becomes a full time student (and something of an expert on Chekov), while Bryant - after an embarrassing scene in which he's falling down drunk in front of his class - is packed off to Australia, which represents for him a new beginning.I appreciated the decision not to turn this into a sappy romance between Bryant and Rita. That seemed to be the way the ending was headed and it would have been the wrong way to go. Instead, Rita simply meets Bryant at the airport as he's flying off and thanks him for everything he's done and - whatever his personal problems - for being such a wonderful teacher to her. It's a very moving closing scene, made even more emotional by the very fact that there's no romance involved. Then, they simply go their separate ways into new lives. The line that stands out for me from the movie is spoken by Rita's mother. As the family gathers in a pub and sings along with the music she looks decidedly unhappy. Rita asks her what's wrong, and her memorable reply, with pained look on her face, is "There must be a better song." In other words, she - alone among the family - understands Rita's need to get away from all this. The movie is well done; one of countless adaptations of "Pygmalion" and so it won't carry a lot of mystery for anyone, but still well done. 7/10

This is a fantastic British film with two fantastic actors, a great setting and story of a close friendship (although some could see it as a near-love story), and from director Lewis Gilbert (Alfie, 3 James Bond films, Shirley Valentine). Dr. Frank Bryant (BAFTA and Golden Globe winning, and Oscar nominated Sir Michael Caine) is the whiskey drinking (almost always drunken) English literature teacher bored with his job and reflecting on his failed marriage and attempt to become a poet. Then one day his world is turned upside down by the arrival of hairdresser Rita, aka Susan (debuting BAFTA (for actress) and Golden Globe winning, and Oscar and BAFTA (for newcomer) nominated Julie Walters) who has decided to take an Open University course. Frank is excited by her observations of things, and her interesting personality. The film mainly sees many discussions they have towards an exam essay, the troubles Rita has to achieving these ambitions of her's, including husband Brian (Michael Williams) who doesn't approve on her education, and their close friendship as she works towards this exam, and Frank just works and makes a fool of himself in his drunken nature. In the end, they are parted by Frank travelling on train to another country, and in the original script they were to have a kiss, but being a teacher-student relationship it would be inappropriate, although a kiss instead of a hug would have been interesting (even if wrong). Also starring BAFTA nominated Maureen Lipman as Trish, Jeananne Crowley as Julia, Malcolm Douglas as Denny, Godfrey Quigley as Rita's Father, Dearbhla Molloy as Elaine, Pat Daly as Bursar, Kim Fortune as Collins, Philip Hurdwood as Tiger, Hilary Reynolds as Lesley, Jack Walsh as Price, Christopher Casson as Professor, Rosamund Burton as Denise and Marcus O'Higgins as Marcus. I really like Caine as a drunken not always caring guy, and Walters' Liverpudlian accent, it creates many of the giggles, well, they both do. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, it won the BAFTA for Best Film, and it was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and it was nominated the Golden Globes for Best Foreign Film - England and Best Screenplay. Sir Michael Caine was number 44 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars, and he was number 7 on The 50 Greatest British Actors, Julie Walters was number 5 on The 50 Greatest British Actresses, and she was number 2 on Britain's Finest Actresses, and the film was number 13 on The 50 Greatest British Films. Very good!