Crowd pleasing kitchen sink drama

Rating: 7/10 (26 October 2000)

"Billy Elliot" is shaping up to be this year's "The Full Monty" although, fortunately, it does not share that film's belief that a naked man is intrinsically hilariously funny. The director manages to walk a thin line between the feel good factor of young Billy's striving to become a dancer and the almost Loachian portrayal of a Northern town during the '84 miners strikes. It is in this balance that the film is most successful; at times the scenes of the family under pressure are extremely moving-as are the more obviously "tear-jerker" scenes of Billy struggling to be understood by his gruffly macho older brother and dad. Any flaws probably come in the somewhat broad characterisations-(we have all seen Julie Walters' heavy smoking, cynical Northern women too many times now) but overall this is an enjoyable feel-good movie with enough grit to stop the terminal cutesies setting in.