I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

This film feels kind of sloppily put together and not thoroughly explored in terms of characters, themes, cultures, etc. I found it difficult to follow, with characters flitting about, making odd decisions, and the repercussions being suggested rather than explored. I felt like the homosexual themes, and the cultural struggles weren't well explored, and therefore the movie ended up being rather meaningless.

Johnny Burfoot (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a squatter in rundown abandoned houses. Hussein "Papa" Ali gets his son Omar a job with his successful uncle Nasser at his car wash. Papa is a drunken disillusioned socialist reporter from Bombay. Omar gets hassled by a group of whites but he is saved by their leader Johnny who is his childhood friend. Nasser lets Omar manage the run down laundrette. Omar hires Johnny to work for him.Director Stephen Frears brings some of the new Pakistani flavor into his London movie. I don't think Gordon Warnecke is particularly nuanced and is not really leading man material. Frears has the great fortune of casting Daniel Day-Lewis. He's wonderful and so is Roshan Seth. The look is more or less TV production level. This has some very compelling scenes dealing with very serious issues.

"My Beautiful Laundrette" is most commonly advertised as a drama and comedy, though the richly symbolic romantic aspect between the main two boys is what quietly takes the show. I have never seen a relationship in film that comes close to the classic, inspiring, well-known pair of Johnny and Omar.Johnny, who seemingly takes the lead in their sexual and romantic relationship, is a white, rough-and-tumble street punk caught up in a small gang and going nowhere. Omar is a bright-eyed, handsome Pakistani boy who takes care of his father, and when a taste of work comes his way, wants nothing more than "big money" and to prove the country he lives in will not beat him. Johnny's lust and love for Omar is apparent from the start, and in a handsomely unique and unpredictable fashion, their business relationship is reversed on terms of who leads who, providing an interesting dynamic between them.Omar's warm, eager demeanor and Johnny's quiet, sideways glances tell the audience about the previous foundation of their past relationship within the first twenty seconds of their meeting. I couldn't imagine that sort of raw, unspoken integrity ever being so successfully accomplished without these two actors and the fantastic chemistry between their characters.Johnny's absolute loyalty to Omar is heartwarming, promising, and honest. He wants nothing more than to prove his love and partnership with everything he has, and he offers it all - his work, his love, and sex. Omar reciprocates his love with forgiveness and, despite being the boss in their business relationship, his consistent admiration toward Johnny is apparent, deep and romantic. He changes into a more confident and proud man with Johnny by his side.Daniel Day-Lewis(Johnny) and Gordon Warnecke(Omar)'s performances were, I will say once more, just spectacular. I have never seen any bit of film quite as passionate, honest nor as erotic as the scene where Johnny and Omar make love. I've been inspired by seeing the tenderness and moving passion of both their love and general partnership - their compatibility is demonstrated by their determination to stay together, despite what happens in the midst of the insanity the film provides.I will say that it is also very real, however, and therefore it does have its rough moments and ups and downs like any relationship between two people should. I won't say too much aside from that I thought the ending was sweet and it took me by surprise, not bothering with a few loose ties if only to inspire lovely ambiguity.There is much more to "My Beautiful Laundrette" than Johnny and Omar's romantic relationship, but the symbolism it serves - as representing the hopeful future, their business, how the world sees them - relates to all aspects of the film. Daniel Day-Lewis and Gordon Warnecke's performances alone are enough of a reason to give it a watch.If you'd like to see a smart, witty, beautiful love story rich in symbolism and more substance than a single review could do justice for, I'd recommend you do yourself a favor by watching "My Beautiful Laundrette."

My Beautiful Launderette is an inspired movie and a perfect example of how the British manage to make brilliant, (fairly) low-budget movies. Gorden Warnecke plays Omar Ali, the go-getting son of an alcoholic Pakistani father and Daniel Day-Lewis is 'Johnny', an 'ex-thug' who is Omar's on again/off again lover. Launderette could be interpreted as a film about racism, implied homophobia, and the British class system and does indeed comprise all these themes but without offering answers, without passing judgement, without obvious heroes and/or villains and with a minimal pity quotient for those who get the bad end of the stick.The plot is simple, and almost incidental to the movie, but does provide a good vehicle for the more obvious subjects covered. Omar's Uncle, a seemingly successful businessman, offers Omar a fruitless, failing, shabby, thug-filled launderette to run, maybe as a test of the boy's ambition and drive, and as a favour to Omar's father. Johnny, being on the dole, and having just been kicked out of his lodgings for, one presumes, some nefarious, petty crimes, hooks up once more with Omar and together they get to work beautifying the launderette. There is much irony in Launderette, including the fact that Johnny has only just broken away from the brutish gang of disaffected, unemployed, racist youth and, despite being in love with Omar all along, participated readily in racist attacks and, along with his fellow hooligans, referred to all Asians as 'Pakis'. This classic film paints a very accurate picture of the British recession in the mid 80s which gave rise to an 'underclass' of sorts, who either couldn't find work, or didn't want to work and quite gladly lived 'on the dole' for months or years. The unemployed white youth provide an obvious contrast to the hard working Asians, giving rise to an illogical, but all too real phenomenon of resentment toward the Asians who 'have taken all the jobs'. Another striking contrast is that between Omar and Johnny; Omar's ambitiousness and Johnny's lack of a work ethic, Omar's ethnicity and Johnny's erstwhile racism; Omar's optimism (almost verging on naivety) and Johnny's jaded, indifferent disposition. Launderette also astutely demonstrates the disparity between the older and younger Asian generations; the 'elders' having been raised in almost certain hardship in Pakistan, immigrating to England, finding jobs, working hard and making money, while their children grow up in England, in the midst of a recession and have the same jaded, cynical views on work and society as their white counterparts. Daniel Day-Lewis is phenomenal as the conflicted Johnny who may appear to be a mindless, lazy, none too bright, trouble-making ruffian but doesn't really care about risking the destruction of his 'bad boy' reputation when he shows such sensitivity to Omar and thoroughly immerses himself in the challenge of revamping the launderette. It is at this point that we see what power Omar has over Johnny and they fall into a virtual boss/unpaid employee role. The irony is that Omar's extended family may appear to be successful but much of their power and wealth comes through the dodgy dealings of Omar's cousin Salim, the 'cool' and brutish 'king pin', played excellently by Derrick Branche. Salim is the one with, supposedly, all the 'power'. But his money and 'power' within his Pakistani community mean little in the end. Racism prevails and he is just another 'Paki' at the mercy of vicious louts.My Beautiful Launderette is bleak yet hopeful, brutal yet sensitive, optimistic yet dispiriting. It offers more questions than it proffers answers, illustrates the brutal pointlessness of racism without presenting any solutions or any justice for its victims. It is objective, unsentimental, intelligent and captivating and I believe it deserves to be regarded as a classic of our times.