My Beautiful Laundrette

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My Beautiful Laundrette

R

Released Mar 7, 1986

1h 37m

Comedy

Drama

LGBTQ+

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Popcornmeter

96%

Tomatometer

49 Reviews

74%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

In a seedy corner of London, Omar (Gordon Warnecke), a young Pakistani, is given a run-down laundromat by his uncle (Saeed Jaffrey), who hopes to turn it into a successful business. Soon after, Omar is attacked by a group of racist punks, but defuses the situation when he realizes their leader is his former lover, Johnny (Daniel Day-Lewis). The men resume their relationship and rehabilitate the laundromat together, but various social forces threaten to compromise their success.

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Critics Consensus

My Beautiful Laundrette is fast and all over the place because it has so much to say, and show, including a highly watchable fresh-faced Daniel Day-Lewis.

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Ed Potton

The Times (UK)

The film blends realism and pizzazz with the assuredness for which Frears would become known, Day-Lewis deliberately channelling Clint Eastwood in a turn of charismatic stillness. Four decades on, the jewel still glistens.

Rated: 5/5

Aug 5, 2025

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Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

It is a sharp, smart picture, with English eccentricity, sly quirk and political subversion, that represents a brilliant and almost unique engagement with contemporary history in 80s British cinema.

Rated: 5/5

Jul 30, 2025

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Jay Carr

Boston Globe

There's nothing mournful about My Beautiful Laundrette. It's too headlong for elegy, too matter-o-fact for italicizing, too busy living in the present, too high on the fact that it has achieved survival -- and then some.

Jul 30, 2024

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Kat Halstead

Common Sense Media

"My Beautiful Laundrette" is full of amiable characters and humor but doesn't shy away from the complexities of race, class, sexuality, generation gaps, and the greed that sometimes came with the ideologies of 1980s Britain.

Rated: 4/5

Sep 19, 2025

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Dan Webster

Spokesman-Review (Washington)

The themes are familiar, but writer Hanif Kuerishi refuses to simplify the issues and director Steven Frears uses an interesting visual style to explore another seamy side of life.

Rated: 3/4

Jul 27, 2024

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Farah Cheded

A Good Movie To Watch

Watching [My Beautiful Laundrette] smash taboos and break new ground in all the ways it does decades later, you can’t help but lament that movies this clever and complex and radical in their focuses aren't more commonplace now.

Oct 21, 2023

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CodyZamboni Z

Movie is a bit overrated , It's slightly amusing, A nice, off beat slice of life, No real plot, No preaching, Just accepts characters as is, And doesn't shy away from issues like characters need for money, to find acceptance in English society circa 1985.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

09/02/25

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Stephen C

Funny pride in 1 hour and 37 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/04/25

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Phil V

Way ahead of its time.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/23/25

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Audience Member

I found the movie thoroughly unconvincing and boring. Maybe I was having a bad day. Perhaps you liked it thoroughly, and I would be the last to say you nay. De gustibus non est disputandum.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

11/12/24

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David K

Interesting film but mainly for the early work of Daniel Day-Lewis. Also, the focus on the Pakistani immigrant experience in England.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

06/18/24

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PridePosterStudios

Spillage in the back room 💦

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

04/24/24

Full Review

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Stephen Frears

Director

Daniel Day-Lewis

Johnny

Gordon Warnecke

Omar

Saeed Jaffrey

Nasser

Roshan Seth

Papa

Derrick Branche

Salim

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Synopsis

In a seedy corner of London, Omar (Gordon Warnecke), a young Pakistani, is given a run-down laundromat by his uncle (Saeed Jaffrey), who hopes to turn it into a successful business. Soon after, Omar is attacked by a group of racist punks, but defuses the situation when he realizes their leader is his former lover, Johnny (Daniel Day-Lewis). The men resume their relationship and rehabilitate the laundromat together, but various social forces threaten to compromise their success.

Director: Stephen Frears
Producer: Tim Bevan, Sarah Radclyffe
Screenwriter: Hanif Kureishi
Distributor: Orion Pictures
Production Co: Channel Four Films, Working Title Films
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Drama, LGBTQ+
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 7, 1986, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 17, 2017
Runtime: 1h 37m
Sound Mix: Mono

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