My Beautiful Laundrette

R

Released Mar 7, 1986

1 hr. 37 min.

Comedy

Drama

LGBTQ+

List

98%

45 Reviews

Tomatometer

74%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

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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Shioka O

This film depict people and social issues in 80s particularly in UK cities. Small, but it hold many problematic contexts within, and not entertaining. Very fresh Daniel Day-Lewis showed compelling performance as a main character. Seems like many British actors emerged in 80s-90s tackled with this type in the early stage of their career. and this is one of the pioneer.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

12/05/22

Full Review

isla s

This is a good film of its time, depicting a bleak picture for Indian immigrants in London, trying to fit in, in the big city. Its obviously set in the 1980s, when it was very much Thatchers Britain. The dialogue is quite frank at times, with racial slurs made by a local group of layabouts. It was certainly interesting to see Daniel Day-Lewis in one of his earlier roles - I'm not sure I would have recognised him, if I hadn't read up about the cast beforehand. There's some good dialogue present in the script, one line that particularly comes to mind being when the launderettes manager, the father, responds to someone saying 'I am a businessman, not a professional Pakistani!'. This is no big Hollywood type film at all - neither should it be but as a piece of social commentary its pretty effective. Yes I'd recommend it.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I saw it. Little memory of it, but glad it exists for sure

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

johann m

🏳️‍🌈 This 1985 British comedy-drama follows an ambitious Pakistani Briton and his white boyfriend who strive for success and hope when they open a glamorous laundromat in London during the Thatcher years. It is also a funny progressive social comedy that was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, and even though it has some serious problems with its dialogues, it is a very interesting story. This was one of Daniel Day-Lewis's first performances and you can already tell he was destined for great things. It's a movie ahead of its time, even with its abstract elements.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I have no idea what the point of the film is. Too many ideas, none properly explored and the central romance was ridiculous and unconvincing. Mess of a film but interesting to see south London captured on film in the mid 80s.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

Full Review

l g

first watch today. even after all these years and all the mentions of this movie buried way back in my head, i had no idea what it was about. Daniel Day-Lewis was superb.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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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Pauline Kael

New Yorker

It’s an enormous pleasure to see a movie that’s really about something, and that doesn’t lay on any syrupy coating to make the subject go down easily.

Sep 13, 2023

Full Review

Catherine Rambeau

Detroit Free Press

A brutally funny social comedy about the racial and social consequences of a Pakistani and an Englishman going into business and becoming lovers.

Rated: 8/10

Oct 27, 2021

Full Review

Paul Attanasio

Washington Post

"My Beautiful Laundrette" is quirky and fresh and ambitious and pretty much everything a movie should be, except good.

Jan 4, 2018

Full Review

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

Full Review

Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

It’s a grungy yet dynamic portrait of race and prejudice in the Thatcher-era London of East Indian immigrants and neo-Nazi gangs.

Jan 7, 2023

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Daniel Day-Lewis enjoyed a breakout year stateside thanks to his contrasting performances here and as a supercilious dandy in A Room with a View.

Rated: 3/4

Dec 28, 2020

Full Review

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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
Screenwriter: Hanif Kureishi
Distributor: Orion Pictures
Production Co: Working Title Films, Channel Four Films
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Drama, LGBTQ+
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 7, 1986, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 17, 2017
Sound Mix: Mono

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