It'd be easier to think better of this if that horrible scene with the window guy wasn't included; the music being played over and over also doesn't help. Great work from the rest of the cast, with Gary Oldman being the obvious standout, and a enormous asset in Leigh's penchant for intelligently written characters.

Tim Roth and Gary Oldman's first appearance together, this is a hidden gem for anyone interested in their early work or Mike Leigh's TV movies. It's an extremely nuanced film, focusing in detail on the everyday life in Thatcher's Britain but also serves as a fine character study, in the image of Roth as a timid, possibly slow teenager seeking something to do (or avoid doing) in his life. Oldman is a tough skinhead whom he befriends and their odd relationship is one of the many highlights here.

If not quite approaching the structural mastery of Leigh’s future work, he’s certainly getting there. A grim look at unemployment in Thatcher’s Britain with excellent character work, and while the lack of plot in the first hour doesn’t always work, the main story strand once it arrives is superb and heart-wrenching.

Involving, despite the horrific sound mix.

The weird soundtrack, the acting, the bleak setting. Sticks in your brain for the rest of your life.

the yang to LIFE IS SWEET's yin in many ways, and nearly as good.

Made for British television, Mike Leigh, as always, creates vividly defined characters and casts the right actors to explore them and develop a story together. Everyone here is magnificent, but Oldman kind of steals the whole show with his small, but magnificently unhinged performance. Like much of Leigh's work, the film is about class conflict, but it never paints a simple or easy picture. It would be easy to demonize Bailey, but that is not how this plays out at all.

You wouldn't know it from the cover pic or user reviews but Gary Oldman is here chewing scenery, but in a fairly minor role. The real story centers on the relationship between the brothers played by Tim Roth and Phil Daniels (the standout IMO). Also of note is a rather lovely turn from Marion Bailey as their well-meaning, bourgeois Auntie Barbara.

Not sure what everyone else is talking about - The score is great and the window guy is hilarious

Mike Leigh's world seems so easy to fall into and identify with, especially when they're populated by lounging dole-bludgers. Some superb early performances from established actors like Tim Roth and Gary Oldman, and Quadrophenia's Phil Daniels is unrecognizable as such a different character, I'm glad he had at least one other great performance in him. The bond he has with Roth's character is careful at showing the brotherly devotion at arms length.

Very relatable but just too British for me.

ignoring the monotonous music, the story and the performances were very natural and real.

One of the worst musical scores I've ever heard that sounds dreadful, kicks you straight out of the film and undoes any attempts at genuineness with its quirks. Also there are some irritating characters, including a window salesman who appears for only a few minutes but in those few minutes had me successfully shouting at my netbook.

Leigh's still honing his feature talents here (pre-1980s, his best stuff was his BBC work) and some of the plotting is clunky, but smart dialogue shines through

Powerfull thanks to incredible performances by youngsters Oldman and Roth. But in this early effort Leigh hadn't really found his finely tuned balance between (here, irritating) symbolic caricatures and hardhitting slice-of-life as in his later wonderful work. And that horrible music is a drawback.

Great.

music was a bit odd, otherwise ok

Wonderful, one of Mike Leigh's best stories. Just try to forget that phony 'deep and revolutionary' character, the window guy.

One of Mike Leigh's best. The young Roth and Oldman are superb. A piece of '80s history. The pace is slow, but there is tension in every moment.

Didn't watch more than 1/3.