My Beautiful Laundrette Movie Review (1985)

A film about one man’s quest to turn a laundromat into a success, My Beautiful Laundrette explores racial themes and sexuality with a deep undercurrent and a light exterior.

I am on a quest to watch every single movie that Daniel Day-Lewis has been in. He has performed in less than 30 and I have seen about half, so I am taking them slowly. I don’t look forward to the day that I have finished because he is so unique to the screen that I will be sad to run out. Therefore, I only watch one when it feels like the right time for me.

My Beautiful Laundrette is about Omar, a British young man of Pakistani descent who is trying to find his place in the world. His father wants him to go to college, get married, and start a traditional future, but he has big dreams that his life could be more. When his uncle offers him a position at his failing laundrette (we would call this a laundromat in the states), Omar recruits his old friend Johnny to help him turn it into a success.

This is a hugely 80s comedic drama full of all of the bright colors, smiling faces, and random Mob-like characters that you traditionally find in that decade of films. But there are lots of layers here and they add to the complications and depth of story that a lot of 80s movies don’t have.

One of the major themes of the film is race, although it is more of an undercurrent than a continuously discussed issue. Omar, his family, and friends are Pakistani and Johnny, the punk thugs he hangs around with, as well as most of the laundrette customers, are white. There is a comment (from a white character) about how “they” brought the Pakistani people over to Britain to work for “them,” and yet, the viewer can see that almost all of the Pakistani characters wear suits, have jobs, and have means, while the white characters are wasting time, using the laundrette (which is fine, but it implies that you don’t have machines at home), or actively using a Pakistani character for their money.

There are some fun little sound effects in the film that seemingly come out of nowhere (like bubbles between scenes) and a side story about the uncle’s daughter who wants to step out of her dysfunctional family to live her own life, but much of the film centers around Omar’s ambition and his relationship with Johnny.

I got an extreme sense of “you don’t understand me” between the generations here. The uncle owns things and cheats on his wife. The father wants more for his son, but is a depressed alcoholic. Johnny, who has nowhere to fully belong and nowhere to live, is looking for acceptance, which he once had from Omar, and Omar wants more, sometimes taking his ambition too far.

I didn’t get emotionally attached to this film, but both Daniel Day-Lewis (Johnny) and Gordon Warnecke (Omar) bring an internal light to their characters, as do the actors for the uncle, the father, and uncle’s daughter. My Beautiful Laundrette is an enjoyable film, and while it isn’t revelatory in any way, it was a good early vehicle with Day-Lewis.

Runtime: 97 minutes

Motion Picture Rating: R

Languages Spoken In The Film: English and Urdu (no subtitles, you’re not supposed to understand unless you speak Urdu)

Should You Watch It? Yes

Did I Cry? Nope

My Rating: 3.25/5 Stars

Available: Free on Tubi, to rent on Prime Video, or may be available for free on other streaming platforms