AIBU to think that Rita, Sue and Bob Too isn’t a laugh riot of a film?

[StanfordPines]

There was a Facebook post a little while ago about the film Rita, Sue and Bob Too. Lots of people were commenting about what a funny film is was.
I commented that while it is a fantastic film and certainly has a humorous side to it I wouldn’t say it was a funny film. I was told that I was without a sense of humour. I said that I didn’t find a grown man having sex with underage girls to be super funny and was told that that is just how it was then and it was fine.
I deleted my comments and walked away.
I’m the same age as Rita and Sue. It wasn’t how things were then and it wasn’t fine.

AIBU to think that while it is a great film comments like ‘such a funny film’ and ‘you wouldn’t be allowed to make that today’ are just missing the point?

(I know it’s Facebook and I haven’t taken it to heart but was I wrong?)

For me it’s not a comedy. There are some funny moments but the darker undertones are too strong.

It's one of my all time favourite films, but it's not a comedy film.

I didn't enjoy it (saw it about 20 years ago). Especially with the Doncaster grooming scandal perhaps even less appropriate now.

Not seen it but just read the plot. Wow. Doesn’t sound particularly funny at all.

God no. It is a good film, but a bit creepy! It's a while since I watched it - how old were the characters?

I love it but no, it's not funny, although I thought it was when I first saw it many years ago.
Thinking about it now most of it is fairly awful really.

I remember reading the plot and thinking ‘wtf did I just read!?’ Sounds grimy and horrible.

There was an excellent radio 4 drama based on the real life experience of the woman who wrote the play. Her life was as sad as the girls. It was filmed on the estate she lived on.

God no I always hated it but for some reason my friends thought it was some kind of cult classic 🙄

Just read the plot on Wikipedia - I guess they were 15 or 16. This is them more recently!!

@MsVestibule

God no. It is a good film, but a bit creepy! It's a while since I watched it - how old were the characters?

The girls were still in school. Given that in those days school leaving age was 16 and 6th form was unusual (especially for working class girls like them. No one in my school went to 6th form), they must have been 15 or 16. Bob was old enough to be married with children/job/car. I’d say he was about mid 30s.

It’s a comedy in the same way Full Monty is. And OFAH in a way. It’s certainly a zeitgeist film.

The biography of the woman who wrote the original play is worth a read.

Looking back It's on all levels of wrongness but at the time didn't seem too shocking.

I thought it was grimy too. It was meant to be. Andrea Dunbar was only 19 or 20 when she wrote the play and it was written from experience. According to her Wikipedia page the ending was rewritten.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Dunbar

I loved this film at the time when I was a teenager. I did have a 14 year old friend who was shagging a 40 year old from the pub. Messed up times.

I am their age too, and I am working class from the north. I have just seen it described as a “realistic story” on IMDB, it definitely wasn’t realistic or how things were back then. A grown man having sex with two teenage girls would have been as shocking then as it is now.

I have seen it, but I don’t remember it well, I don’t recall it being funny.

I’m not sure I agree with that april - I do think right up until ten years ago working class girls were seen as promiscuous, slappers, slags, streetwise.

Not vulnerable.

It's very dark. It is funny in places, especially if you grew up in a similar area. But it's also a fairly accurate portrayal of life on these estates back then. I suspect it wouldn't seem as dark if the CSE cases hadn't been raised and investigated, but now we know what we know it becomes even more dark.

Yes, I remember watching it for the first time in the 80s when I was a teen and my friend and I thinking it was hilarious. DH had never seen it so we watched it a couple of years ago and I was horrified. It's very dark, and whilst there is some humour, there's so much abuse. I don't think it was intended to be a comedy.

It's a great film though.

Disagree, April, sadly.

It has funny parts but it's not a comedy. Anyone who thinks it is is missing the point

The Arbor is an amazing film about Andrea Dubar's life told from the perspective of her daughters.

But it is also incredibly dark. She had a very hard life and so did her daughters.

I think it was supposed to be shocking and grimly humorous at the same time.
I worked quite near to the estate it was filmed on in Bradford around the time it was filmed ( late 80s). I think it was a pretty accurate depiction of life there in some respects - grinding poverty, anti social behaviour, low aspiration and dismal opportunities for northern w/c youth in thatcher’s Britain and well before that. The humour at the start and the way it ended - domestic violence etc was pretty starkly contrasted.

It is a great film but would say more dark than funny. People tend to remember the song We're Having a Gangbang more than the fact that the girls are underage and the song is fairly humorous, so perhaps why people who haven't seen it recently are remembering it as a comedy?

I’ve always thought it was an utterly revolting film.