5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gritty North England Comedy, November 24, 2002
Rita, Sue And Bob Too was adapted by Andrea Dunbar from two of her own controversial plays. Rita (Siobhan Finneran) and Sue (Michelle Holmes) are two teenagers living on a run-down council estate in Bradford who both share a job babysitting for Bob (George Costigan) and Michelles (Lesley Sharp) children. Whilst giving them a lift home one night, Bob decides to take Rita and Sue up to a deserted, country-side landscape. Clearly knowing what he has in mind, Rita and Sue are only too happy to oblige and both have a sexual encounter with him that becomes a regular occurence. Despite the blatant politically-incorrect nature of the film, this does emerge as a somewhat controversial, though enduringly amusing film that has a sharp, gritty undertone. The film shifts direction half way through but shrewdly brings the characters all back together again and the ending is hilarious! Michelle Holmes, Siobhan Finneran and George Costigan (all respected T.V actors/esses) play their parts perfectly, displaying a raw and instinctive edge to their characterisations. The film was released in the mid 1980's and has stood the test of time, still making enjoyable viewing today. Worth watching.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What do we do with Rita and Sue, and Bob Too?, July 25, 2003
So goes the opening bluesy-pop song of the movie, which accompanies Sue's drunken and unkempt father tottering back to his flat in the slum area of a Yorkshire town. Well, the obvious thing to do, as the songs says, is to catch the action in this drama spiced with ...profanity, and laughs in a sleeper hit that was released in 1986, ...
Rita and Sue are two teenagers who seem to be in either sixth or seventh form at school. They occasionally babysit for Bob and Michelle, who live in a nice house in the town's suburbia. One evening, Bob, a suave and handsome man in his early 40's, drives them home, only to stop at the moors and tells them about his marital problems. Rita cheekily says, "Tell us another one" as she and Sue giggle. The conversation ends with Sue, and then Rita lying flat against the car's reclining front seats while Bob has [a physical encounter]with them. After their first experience with [a physical encounter], Rita wonders if Bob will take them up here again. Sue replies, "Oh he will. Make no mistake about that." Afterwards, they look forward to house-sitting, which ends up in having a "jump", pronounced "jawmp", with Bob at the moors.
Given their quality of life, Bob is a step up for the two girls. He represents the thing they aspire for. He has a nice car, nice house, and wears nice clothes. And they are pretty, though not exactly fashion models, so what prospect do they have for a boyfriend, and for that matter, for someone permanent?
What is a man to do with a frigid wife? Bob thinks [a physical encounter] is nothing to be ashamed of, while Michelle, more puritanical, is put off by his wanting it more than once a week. She agrees to try, but then says, "I wish you wouldn't put your tongue in me mouth." Clearly, this marriage is a Scotch on the double rocks.
The most notable thing is class differences. The obvious difference is housing and neighbourhoods. When the camera follows Rita and Sue en route to Bob's house, the plain dirt surrounding the shabby slums cut to nice sidewalks, kept lawns, and finally to Bob's two-story house, complete with large white garage. The spacious interior of Bob's home is a far cry from the squalid, crowded conditions of Sue's monkey cage of a flat, where she lives with her parents and three siblings. Also, all the Anglo characters have a Yorkshire brogue, which is more pronounced in Rita, Sue, and the latter's parents. Bob and Michelle have that but there's a refined, charming quality to it.
There's a small subplot involving Aslam, a Pakistani youth who falls for Sue. We first see him flirting with Sue while she is working as a dispatcher for a taxi service. He comes out later and some value differences between English and Pakistanis appear later on in the movie. I mention this because both Sue's father and Bob refer to Aslam using a racist slur, so there is a hierarchical class structure, middle class, lower class, and then coloured people.
Later on, certain differences emerge between Rita and Sue, in terms of morality and conscience. When talking about Bob, Rita says she wouldn't mind having a guy like Bob if he didn't do to her what he was doing to Michelle. Sue though, says she wouldn't mind and would expect it of him, as long as she didn't find out. They also ask themselves what they would do if they were caught and confronted by Michelle. Rita says she would admit it, whereas Sue would deny it.
Director Alan Clarke has a people and buildings/door motif going on. In one scene, Sue goes to the back door of an apartment. We get a view of the open front door. Sue reemerges with Rita. A similar scene occurs later in the film. In another, Bob enters the open door of his house. We hear his enraged voice and then curses at full volume.
The title actors, Siobhan Finneran (Rita), Michelle Holmes (Sue), and George Costigan (Bob) shine out in this adaptation of two stage plays by Andrea Dunbar, The Arbor and Rita Sue & Bob Too. However, Willie Ross has some comical moments as Sue's profane and besotted father.
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