Sweet little movie

Rating: 8/10 (23 December 2000)

The film has moment of exhilaration when the acting, direction, editing, musical score and camera work all come together superbly. I found myself weeping unexpectedly in many places throughout the film. Some elements did not work for me, like the presence of the old granny and both young Debbie's and young Michael's attempts to seduce Billy. Nor are all the attempts at humor 100% successful. But these are minor quibbles in the grand scheme of things. On the whole this was a very enjoyable movie. Special huzzahs for actors Julie Walters (all too rare on the screen since Educating Rita) as Billy's dance teacher, Gary Lewis as Billy's poor beleaguered father, and the amazingly natural child performer, Jamie Bell in the title role. This is definitely one of 2000's best films. The British dialects may be hard for most Americans to understand, but I'd still recommend it to intelligent adult filmgoers.