Rita, Sue and Bob Too
Tags: comedy

Plot synopsis:
Rita and Sue are two teenaged girls in their final year of school who live on a run down council estate in Bradford. To earn some money, they babysit for Bob and Michelle (Lesley Sharp), a better-off couple who live in a detached house in a nicer part of town. When the couple return later, Michelle pays the girls and tells Bob to give them a lift home. Bob, however, drives them to an out of the way place to have sex with each of them in the back of his car. They nonchalantly agree, and he and the girls plan to make it a regular thing. By the time they're finished, it's 2 a.m.
Sue sneaks into her house hoping that everyone is in bed. However, her drunken father is waiting for her in the living room, holding a half a snooker cue, threatening to "wrap it round [her] neck". Sue and her parents proceed to argue about why she's home so late, with her mother taking Sue's side. After her father gives up and goes to bed, Sue's mother asks for the truth, but Sue repeats the lie, to her mother's disappointment.
Sue gets a part-time job at a local taxi firm, and meets Aslam (Kulvinder Ghir), a Pakistani boy who drives for the firm. He and another driver make a bet on who can get her into bed first. Sue rebuffs them. At school, Bob shows up at Rita and Sue's P.E. tennis class to take them for a "jump" (sex). Rita manages to get permission from the teacher to use the toilet (a ruse to see Bob); but Sue is denied and told to get back to the class. She takes her anger out on another student. Bob takes Rita to a furnished showhome on a new housing development, where they have sex.
Later on, Michelle finds a package of condoms in Bob's trousers whilst ironing them. Bob tells her that he and his mates were blowing them up like balloons at the pub for fun, but Michelle doesn't believe him and they argue. During the argument, it is revealed that Michelle is frigid and reluctant to have sex, which frustrates Bob. It also turns out that Bob previously had an affair, discovered when Michelle found his mistress's bracelet in their bed; the mistress had also been their babysitter. Michelle goes upstairs to get ready for their planned night out, for which Rita and Sue are again babysitting. Bob warns the girls that Michelle is suspicious and will ask them questions and try to trick them. They convince Michelle that Bob isn't sleeping with either of them.
After their night out, Bob and Michelle start arguing again, this time in front of Rita and Sue who desperately try not to laugh. Michelle takes her anger out on them and tells them to stop laughing. She then storms off to bed. Grumpily, Rita and Sue make their own way home, unhappy that Bob can't take them in his car and have sex with them again. That night, Michelle decides to let Bob have sex with her to stop him going off with other women, but it goes badly.
The next day, on a school trip, Sue gets into a fight with a classmate who calls her a slag because she is rumoured to be seeing a married man. Later, Rita and Sue skip school to go and meet Bob, hoping to make up for the previous night, but Bob can't get an erection, embarrassing himself and leaving Rita and Sue unsatisfied. He takes them out to a club instead, where Michelle's best friend Mavis happens to be, and spots Bob with the girls. Bob warns the girls that Mavis will surely tell Michelle she saw them together.
The next morning, Mavis rushes around to tell Michelle what she saw, and Michelle storms over to Rita's house in Mavis's car. Michelle drags Rita out of her house and into Mavis's car, and takes her to Sue's flat to confront them both, with Bob now in tow. Michelle, Bob, Rita, Sue, and Sue's parents have a big argument in front of all the neighbours, who are all having a good laugh over the spectacle. Michelle blames the girls for being slutty, but Sue retorts that the reason Bob cheats on her is because she doesn't have enough sex with him. Michelle turns on Bob, goes home, ransacks the house, and she and their children leave in a taxi, never to return.
The next day, Sue goes to Rita's house to walk to school together. Rita tells her that she is no longer going to school, because they are due to leave school soon and Bob has asked her to move in with him. She also reveals that she is pregnant with Bob's child. When Bob arrives to take her away, Sue is enraged and tells them both to get lost.
Sue dates Aslam as a rebound to get over Bob and Rita. They go to the cinema, and then off to grassy hillside spot where they start kissing. Afterwards they go to Sue's flat where Aslam meets her parents. Her father comes home from the pub drunk and shouts racist comments at Aslam, causing Sue to leave home and move in with Aslam and his sister.
Months later, Sue finds out that Rita has miscarried, and visits her in the hospital. On the way out, Bob approaches Sue and invites her for another escapade. Sue refuses, saying she's staying faithful to Aslam, whom she's now living with. After Bob drops Sue off at her house, Aslam attacks Sue, thinking that she was out having sex with Bob.
Later at Bob's house, he and Rita are about to have sex, when Bob accidentally says Sue's name. Angry, Rita leaves to confront Sue. When she gets there, she finds Aslam attacking Sue. Defending her, Rita kicks him in the knees, and then Sue kicks him in his groin, disabling him enough for Sue and Rita to escape. They go back to Bob's house, where Rita tends to Sue's wounds, and Aslam shows up at Bob's door. They refuse to let him in, but Aslam tries to find a way to break in, all the while trying to convince Sue to come back to him. He almost gets in through the patio doors, but Rita runs and locks them. He tries to plead with Sue, threatening suicide if she doesn't come back. The situation is interrupted by the arrival of the police, having been called by a neighbour. Aslam then runs off with the police in pursuit.
When Bob returns home, Rita tells him that she is letting Sue move in with them. They go upstairs and Bob goes to get a bath. When he goes into the bedroom he finds both girls semi-naked in his bed and the film ends with him diving onto the bed.

Review: Rita, Sue and Bob Too is an exemplary British '80s film.
I knew a lot of Ritas and Sues when I was growing up, and the two young actresses who play these parts do a stellar job.For me, a lot of the humour in the film derives from the depictions of "class" - from Sue's awful drunk father uselessly brandishing a baseball bat, to Bob's wife - clearly only about half a stilleto heel up the social ladder than Rita and Sue, but desperate to be seen to be something better.
Lines like "Make your own f**king tea" when she's trying to impress and intimidate the girls are wonderfully comic.I also like the racial slant to the film - the guy who plays Sue's Asian boyfriend is attractive, and presented both sympathetically and unsympathetically at the same time (like most of the lead characters in the film) - at first he's nervous around Sue, but quickly tries to assert control over her.
I think this film paved the way for later films like "East is East", which reminds me of it a lot.I also like the depictions of gossipy, interfering neighbours - both from the under-class estate (especially the strange old man who dances in glee at the "street-fight") and the middle-class private housing (the guy who endlessly waters his plants in the garden so he can spy on the events in Bob's house).
In contrast, to anyone from a hum-drum town anywhere in the British Isles (in my case Ireland) or inner city working class background, a mention of the film if they've seen it, brings on a laugh and smiles of recognition of shared experiences.Hyper-realism may prevail in this film but there are many many reasons to watch it.
Overcrowded classrooms, and few opportunities to socialise meant teenagers had to make their own fun just like Rita and Sue.To me no other film evokes the 80's like this film, it always brings me out in tears of laughter as I recognise the characters from my own life.
Practically every girl in my home town dressed exactly like Rita and Sue, bare legged and white stillettoed.
That scene where they go to the museum with the other school girls and exiting onto a cobbled Yorkshire street Sue utters the immortal line: '..she called me a slag so I hit her!, after assaulting a virgin classmate, is a real hoot.
For me the funniest scene is when Rita and Sue start giggling in embarassment as Bob and The Wife start having a barny after returning home after a night on the tiles.
The two main protagonists (Rita and Sue) are finding fun, excitement and adventure (isn't it better to be walking around in cow dung getting fresh air and a 'jump' from the middle class neighbour in a car than loitering around a dreary housing estate?) as an antidote to their hopeless circumstances.
Every time I see it I laugh out loud - if you're ever feeling  a bit down, watch this film!
The scene at the dance with the terrible 80's party band Black Lace is wonderful, they are having a such a great time and it is in such contrast to their grim reality.The ending is wonderful..
The film *is* a comment on Thatcher's Britain but although the backdrop to the story is a run-down estate and the characters are financially poor the story is tender, funny and celebratory.The title shows what the film is about, it's about Rita and Sue, Bob's only an afterthought.
Throughout the whole relationship the girls are in control of the hapless Bob who's sex-drive leads to his making some pretty unwise choices, Rita and Sue are his enthusiastic conspirators.
The relationship with Bob tests their friendship but it is ultimately made stronger.The film has some wonderful moments, Sue's father is the most convincing drunk I've ever seen.
The story is a married man called Bob seduces the babysitters Ria and Sue in his car when parked out on the moors resulting in a hilarious sex scene.
The three continue their relationship of casual sex and good times even though they know the truth will eventually be known.As i said comedy is a big part of this film which is mainly from the common accents and swearing from practically the whole cast (especially Kevin, Sue's racist, drunkard dad).
Other comedy moments are the old nosey neighbour (Hosepipe Harry) who spends the whole film watering his garden and the dance scene where Bob and the two girls are dancing to a song called "We're having a gang bang!" which is funny just for Rita's dancing (best moment in the film!) although a friend of Bob's wife (Fat F*ckin' Mavis) sees them and tells her leading to a full scale argument with the girls families and the married couple, which has more swearing in the 5 minute scene then a whole series of the Osbournes.This is a great British film and anyone with a sense of humour will enjoy it!.
Some viewers might be offended by the use of racist language used when referring to Asians, and perhaps even the portrayal of Sue's Pakistani boyfriend as violent, but this is essential to the realistic depiction of working-class life in a decaying inner-city area.
It is the films bawdiness and honesty that makes 'Rita, Sue and Bob too' a minor classic of the long gone 1980s..
This film shows a snap shot of British working class life as it was (and still is in many cases!).
The British film industry's Liberal Elite hate this kind of movie as it attempts to show real people.
Love it or loathe it, this is an audacious and startling account of working class life during Thatcher's reign in 80s Bradford, North England.
I don't know if the director was meaning to show him as being really funny but some of the things he comes out with are absolutely brilliant.My favourite moment is when Sue gets back from baby sitting the first time.
As desperately unattractive as they both are, I've no idea why either Rita and/or Sue would throw themselves at a consummate creep like Bob - but given that they do, why should I be expected to care what happens to them?
Rita Sue and Bob Too, is set in the grim landscape of Bradford, but the universal appeal of the story could suggest that this film could have been set in New York never mind Yorkshire.The story of two teenage girls being seduced by a rich 30 something who is after his own lustful pleasures is hardly original but it is the warmth that director Allan Clarke (also known for Scum and TV film The Firm starring Gary Oldman) brings to these desperate characters that make the film so memorable.The acting is superb as is the dialogue.
Memorable classic lines  inlcude "Jeez, It's like a frozen sausage!", "I've never kissed a Paki before" and the final line of the film, "You took your fu**ing time!!!" which surely must be on a par with the last line of "Some Like It Hot".Throw in some fantastic parts such as Bobs wife (played by Leslie Sharp of Full Monty fame), Sue's mad as a hat parents, and her Pakistani boyfriend (who later came to fame in the TV series "Goodness, Gracious Me")and not to mention the fabulous Black Lace classic song "We're Having A Gangabang" and the scene is set for a truly British 80's classic.Forgetting the darker and more sinister messages portrayed in the story and focusing on the great acting, direction and storyline, this is a must see for fans of British Cinema.TC.
However, unlike some of the grim, hopeless, angst-ridden movies and TV dramas of that ear this film gives a more energy filled sense of grabbing life by the scruff of the neck and getting what you can out of it before you succumb to apathy, fear or alcohol.
Having said that it is not really a comedy and it certainly doesn't hold back from dealing with the social depravation, class bigotry and racism that is so entrenched in English society.Director Alan Clarke was very insightful is this piece as he is in others like "Scum" and "Made in Britain".Its "Cheap and Common" for sure but as Bob (George Costigan) himself would says .
This film is hilarious as anybody from the area will be able to recognise the characters from people they know.Sit back and laugh your socks off BUT BEWARE if you are offended by bad language (and lots of it) then go for the Sound of Music..
British playwright Andrea Dunbar combined two of her stage plays to create the movie script for Rita, Sue and Bob Too, a movie which, in my family at least, is somewhat fondly remembered as a naughty and gleefully foul-mouthed comedy about an older, married man who starts a sexually-charged relationship with two schoolgirls who babysit his children.
Yet with the tagline "Thatcher's Britain with her knickers down!" and the socially aware Alan Clarke at the helm, it's clear that the film is much more than a titillating throwback to the Carry On days, and paints an incredibly grim picture of working-class life in Bradford, and of Britain as a whole.Rita (Downton Abbey's Siobhan Finneran) and Sue (Michelle Holmes) are two bubbly and outgoing girls making some extra cash on the side by babysitting for middle-class couple Bob (George Cositgan) and Michelle (Lesley Sharp).
The threesome start a potentially damaging relationship, with the girls having to deal with a troubled home- life and the pressures of school gossip, and Bob coming under scrutiny from his wife, who he has cheated on many times before.
As Bob and Rita grow closer and Sue finds herself in an abusive relationship with young Pakistani Aslam (Kulvinder Ghir), close bonds are broken and lives are ruined, when all Bob really wants is to get his rocks off.It is a film that would never get made nowadays, but Clarke's film never attempts to make any stance on the morality of the characters' actions.
The introduction to Sue's frenetic home- life is a mixture of amusing one-liners and kitchen-sink angst, and this lopsided tone is consistent throughout the rest of the film.
RITA, SUE AND BOB, TOO (2+ outta 5 stars)Kind of interesting English comedy about 2 young girls who wind up in a 3-way affair with the married man they are babysitting for.
This a rather bleak hyper-realist British film made at a time when Channel 4 was the main investor in British movies which explains its made for television low budget feel.
Although sex is mostly just alluded to in the film, the desperation that the three main characters feel for a "jump" is a good thing to explore.Someone said that the film was just another "grim up North" film.
It is a poor film with a poor script that likes to think it is breaking boundaries by adding humorous insights into grim life on the estates.
For example, there are no white teenage boys in the film, other than Sue's brothers.The criticism of the film's sex and bad language is, in my view, a bit harsh.
A movie that has not lost any of it's excellence since it was first produced 15 or more years ago.The opening scene of Willie Ross as Sue's father walking home from the pub drunk is hilarious and sets the tone of the whole film.
Overall I like this film but I'm not really sure why, it's not particularly funny, all the characters lead dismal lives one way or another and none appears to have any respect for themselves or those affected by their actions.
The most puzzling thing about this film is its genre crisis, which really left me confused: it went from bawdy British sex comedy, to gritty Northern drama when one of the girls gets pregnant and Bob's wife leaves him, then back to sex comedy when all three main characters jump into bed together at the end.
I think calling it "realistic" may be a little naive though: elements of the reality of working-class Northern life it may have, but having lived on a Bradford council estate all my life, I certainly wouldn't like people to generalise about myself or my neighbours based on this film!.
I consider watching a movie that consists of bunch of worthless losers threatening and berating and abusing and having sex with each other a pure waste of time.What is there to like about this film?
I felt very uncomfortable watching this film, yes it is a great portrayal of 1980's Britain but the two girls in question were school girls, both seemed pretty vulnerable, one certainly came from a home with a loveless and violent father.
The two girls needed protection from predators like Bob but the film almost seemed to celebrate the affair.
The characters are grim and there is a certain tragic feel for both Rita & Sue that their upbringing has set them on this path.
Rita then go back to Bob and Sue. The ending was cute when there in bed classic.The 80's was a good age Maggie was in power so I don't understand why people slag her off.
Be warned - if you like Richard Curtis's awfully nice idea of romantic comedies with Hugh Grant being jolly pleasant and frightfully British, then give 'Rita, Sue and Bob Too' a VERY wide berth, because this will make you choke on your cucumber sandwiches.
The supporting characters, like it or not, are also bang on the money - Black Lace, essentially playing themselves, turn up as a hideous party band, comedian Kulvinder Ghir does a convincing turn as the shy Asian lad who is, by turns, charmingly vulnerable and frighteningly thuggish, Sue's leering, jeering, nosey neighbors are hilarious and the harried schoolteacher (who has to stop a daytrip to an obviously historical village from turning into an all-out riot when Sue picks a fight with a girl who has called her a "slag"!) with his Arthur Askey impersonations - wasted on an ignorant class of no-hopers - is a virtual textbook example of how to get a lot out of a little role.
Surely one of the most intentionally depressing "comedies" ever made; Rita, Sue And Bob Too is a film that not only divides audience opinion but personal opinion too.
Bob and Michelle ask a pair of local teenage girls, Rita (Siobhan Finneran) and Sue (Michelle Holmes) – both residents on a rough 'n' tumble nearby council estate – to babysit for them while they go out.
Clarke's film looks right into the jaws of squalid working class existence and doesn't attempt to prettify it in the slightest.
The performances are generally honest and true - Costigan is outstanding as the philandering husband, Sharp wonderfully convincing as his wife, while Holmes and Finneran bring a spirited sauciness to the roles of Rita and Sue. They're not likable characters but they are admirable as survivors of a harsh upbringing.
Also many viewers might feel that Bob should get some sort of come-uppance at the end of the film, although in fairness he is himself exploited by Rita and Sue just as much as he exploits them.
It's important to come to the film understanding that the whole point is to spend 93 minutes experiencing what life is like in someone else's shoes.
It's impossible to recommend the film as an entertaining experience (it's most definitely not a laugh-a-minute raunchy comedy) but it remains one of the most notable films of working class life to come out of Yorkshire in the '80s and, as such, deserves a look..
What were Bradford like when yer were growing up?" After I've corrected their terrible grammar I'll save me breath and put 'Rita, Sue & Bob too' on the Holographic projection unit.
Universal themes set in context of Northern England.Rita, Sue and Bob Too!
Unemployment and poverty are a backdrop and supporting cast to the violence and alcoholism which pervades the working class.Love and joy are expressed through dancing and sex in the film.
The film starts with one of the most joyless scenes in cinema: Bob, a man in his thirties, deflowering two 15 year olds in his car.
If Bob were around today, he would probably appear on crime watch for internet grooming.Sue starts going out with an Asian boy, whose performance is the high point of this film.
For example, as others have said, the portrayal of working class life in the North in the 1980s is very well done, and some of the acting is extremely good.
Not even a well done abusive drunk- he reels and sways like, well, a guy pretending to be drunk.Overall, it just feels like yet another "it's grim up North" film in which character development is sacrificed in favour of just making things as unpleasant as possible.
In RSABT the working class are just as ugly as they are in most Loach and Leigh dramas, but here they laugh, snicker, and grin a lot – which gives kitchen-sinkiness a whole new dimension: almost enough "dimensionality" to make it 2D.Rita, Bob, and Sue are idiots like we've rarely seen, even in comedies.
Bob is supposed to be "the great entertainer", the charismatic happy-go-lucky "playboy" (If I could call him that), but it's hard to fathom what the pea-brained "school-girls" Rita and Sue find either amusing or attractive about him.
The only scene that appears half-way realistic and one most male viewers can identify with (you know you can), is when Bob fails to get it up for Rita.
Rita, Sue and Bob Too. I heard about this for having some strong sexual scenes, and my Mum liked the film, and it turned out to be quite a fun film that went just a bit too quickly.
There is no real story apart from Rita (Siobhan Finneran) and Sue (Michelle Holmes) are two school girls having a sexual fling with a married man named Bob (George Costigan).
It started with Bob asking if they know anything about sex, being virgins, and then having sex with them one at a time.