Critic Rating
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Director
Alan Clarke
Cast
Michelle Holmes,
Siobhan Finneran,
George Costigan,
Lesley Sharp,
Kulvinder Ghir,
Willie Ross
Genre
Comedy,
Drama
Rita and Sue are two teenagers living in working class Bradford, West Yorkshire. The friends share a job babysitting Bob and Michelle's children. Whilst driving them home one night, Bob takes the girls to deserted, countryside landscape, where Rita and Sue both have sex with Bob. These encounters become a regular occurrence, causing conflict in the lives of all three.
Chicago Tribune by Dave Kehr
Like "My Beautiful Laundrette," "Rita, Sue and Bob, Too" imagines an untraditional romantic relationship, outside the bounds of monogamy and exclusive heterosexuality, as the only effective alternative to a social structure that has reached the end of the line. [02 Oct 1987, p.A]
The Observer (UK)
Raunchy, honest, non-judgmental comedy about two Yorkshire schoolgirls reacting against the inertia of their sink estate and sharing the favours of a randy estate agent. Adapted by Andrea Dunbar from her Royal Court play, directed by one of this country's great realists, and acted with gusto by Siobhan Finneran, Michelle Holmes and George Costigan. [01 Jan 2006, p.63]
The Telegraph by Staff (Not Credited)
It's part sex comedy and part critique of the social divisions of Thatcher's Britain and despite its politically incorrect nature, the film is keenly observed and funny. [09 Apr 2011, p.34]
The Observer (UK) by Philip French
Raunchy, honest, non-judgmental comedy about two Yorkshire schoolgirls reacting against the inertia of their sink estate and sharing the favours of a randy estate agent. Adapted by Andrea Dunbar from her Royal Court play, directed by one of this country's great realists, and acted with gusto by Siobhan Finneran, Michelle Holmes and George Costigan. [01 Jan 2006, p.63]
Portland Oregonian by Ted Mahar
Rita, Sue and Bob Too, also adapted by a playwright (Andrea Dunbar) from her own work, is more an out-and-out raucous, raunchy comedy, although hardly a madcap, farcical romp. [03 Oct 1987, p.C08]
Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum
Shot in and around the town of Bradford in long, loping takes, this sprightly comedy, adapted by Andrea Dunbar from her own play, has some of the energy that one associates with the better exploitation films that used to be produced by Roger Corman.
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
This is one of those movies you talk about a lot afterward because the motives of all the characters are so complicated that you're not absolutely sure just who came out ahead.
TV Guide Magazine by Staff (Not Credited)
Although there are some slow sections, RITA, SUE AND BOB TOO! provides a number of good laughs and also more than a few empathetic winces.
Newsweek by David Ansen
Directed, with neither prurience nor sentimentality, by Alan Clarke, the film is a celebration of the survival instincts of two game, practical girls, but a bleak wind blows just below the surface. [03 Aug 1987, p.67]
Los Angeles Times by Sheila Benson
The movie’s tone is light, absurd; its sharper comments lie a little below the waterline.
The Guardian
A queasy humour remains, thanks hugely to salt-of-the-earth per-formances that hardly look like acting. [15 Nov 2006, p.33]
The Guardian by Paul Howlett
A queasy humour remains, thanks hugely to salt-of-the-earth per-formances that hardly look like acting. [15 Nov 2006, p.33]
Washington Post by Hal Hinson
The movie's sense of humor is brash and shaggy, and Rita does have a couple of fliply delivered comebacks. But on the whole, there's not enough variety or definition to hold your attention. Too much is all on the same pitch.
Miami Herald
Rita, Sue and Bob Too is ultimately like a one-night stand. When it's all over, it leaves you, not laughing, but feeling soiled and rather depressed. [23 Nov 1987, p.C6]
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