Like Mike Leigh's All or Nothing, the best thing that Hettie MacDonald's Beautiful Thing does is develop the atmosphere of London's working class tenements and draw vivid portraits of its inhabitants. Although the central focus remains on two teen boys, who gradually discover growing love for each other and homosexuality, the major pluses for the film come from the peripheral characters. Without the feisty barmaid mother, her hippie-like boyfriend, and the neighboring young black woman that fancies Mama Cass, this film would fall into the usual coming of age tale tossed into the gay/lesbian genre. But just as it "takes a village" to raise a child, the "village" elevates this otherwise ordinary drama.

Screenwriter Jonathan Harvey tenders a sweet romance between introverted non-jock Jaime (Glenn Berry) and athletic Ste (Scott Neal). Initially Jaime's eye contact lets the audience know that he's attracted to Ste, but it could be the one of many unrequited loves that Jaime is destined to encounter throughout life. Teen love is problematic enough, but given the additional burden of having raging hormones over someone from the same gender adds another layer. Jaime already has suffered through years of bullying and teasing for his non-athleticism, and realizes that this would only escalate if word got out that he was a confirmed homosexual. So other than the preliminary exploration of whether Ste "fancies" one of the neighbor girls, Jaime takes no action at first.

That all changes one night when Jaime's mother finds Ste crying after another of his alcoholic father's regular beatings. She invites Ste to spend the night in their apartment, and the two boys soon find that their feelings for each other are mutual. That doesn't necessarily mean smooth sailing since Ste especially feels threatened by his sexuality—the isolated teen thing where you're convinced that something is "wrong" with you. Some nice and natural scenes evolve where both boys attempt to find others like them—Jaime shares a copy of Gay Times and both boys explore a gay bar for the first time. These well constructed scenes prepare the two lovers for their big public coming out scene, complete with the Mamas and Papas blaring across the housing project.

While Jaime and Ste form the emotional core, the surrounding characters texture the film with necessary vibrancy. Most outrageous is next door neighbor Leah (Tameka Empson), who fancies herself a budding Mama Cass and plays her records full blast while plastered herself, causing routine uproar in the housing project. As Jaime's mother Sandra (Linda Henry) says, "It's not natural" for a young black woman to want to be just like Mama Cass. Empson is by far the most over the top character, but Henry gets in some fine supporting work with her multi-faceted character. She establishes a solid relationship with son Jaime, but it's not without natural conflicts. Generally brash and sassy, she also shows a sensitive side when encountering the two boys at "hurting" times. Although the script doesn't fully reveal why she breaks up with her younger boyfriend, her character alone allows the audience to fill in any missing pieces—her character is really the most fully developed of the lot.

Once again, it's puzzling that an essentially "feel good" drama about teen gays tentatively coming out of the closet rates an R-rating, considering that there's no explicit sex scenes. An occasional bare ass and kissing doesn't seem to warrant automatic R-ratings if the love is heterosexual, so it seems that the MPAA prefers this aspect of life remain closeted for "impressionable" teens.

The film doesn't offer any panacea for gays as far as showing how to deal with inevitable hostility (only shown by disgusted gazes of onlookers), but it's a better than the average "coming out" film—crossing over well enough for straight audiences that will relate to Mama Cass' plea to "Make Your Own Kind of Music." It's certainly one of the better acted dramas of the genre. Reaffirming basic human values, Beautiful Thing deals with the same first fears that gay teens inevitably feel and lets them know they aren't alone. A simple thought perhaps, but this is a positive first step.