BILLY Overcomes Adversity (& Cliches Galore)

Rating: 9/10 (11 November 2000)

BILLY ELLIOT is a terrific movie. That said... BILLY ELLIOT contains tons of cliches. Like MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2's latex masks, the conventions of a genre must be accepted from the very start. A "feel good" picture like BILLY demands that viewers accept a range of emotional string-tuggers: Billy's granny is going senile; Billy's mum is dead; Billy's Dad and Bro are striking miners; the family's never been to the big city, etc. etc. Yet at every turn the honest and winning performances defy the conventions and will win over all but the most miserable of spirit. Don't resist - BILLY ELLIOT is a winner. Oh, but leave the theatre just before the silly 10 years later fast forward. This brief sequence isn't worthy of the rest of the picture. You'll do just as well without it.