London's gay club world comes alive in this sexy, funny drama about two young men - one a bare-knuckle fighter and the other an ambitious record producer - who fall in love, despite enormously different backgrounds. Steve Bell is unforgettable as the Blackbool fighter who is struggling with his sexual identity, Ian Rose plays the ultra-cool urbanite and Roger Daltry (yeah, THAT Roger Daltry...of The Who) is wickedly funny as Ian's bitchy boss. Romantic, honest and highly entertaining, Like It Is offers an enjoyable and positive look at gay life rarely seen in films.
Set amidst the disparate worlds of the London pop music scene and the bare knuckles boxing clubs of working-class Blackpool, Like It Is is a sexy, and at times, caustically funny tale of one youth's coming out and his first, tumultuous gay love affair. Craig (real-life boxing champ Steve Bell) is a 21-year-old Blackpooler who makes his living by fighting in illegal bare-knuckle fights. But the tough youth is also a closeted gay. He meets by chance Matt (Ian Rose), a cocky London music producer who takes Craig under his wing. The affair brings wide-eyed Steve down to the swinging gay Soho scene and into the duplicitous clutches of Matt's friends, which include Paula (Dani Behr), Matt's flatmate and an up-and-coming singer threatened by the arrival of the youth; and Kelvin (The Who's Roger Daltrey), Matt's gay and decidedly wolfish boss. Will Craig find happiness in Britain's gay Mecca or be forced back to his sordid former world? Some of the film's best moments are when it shows the tensions of being gay in a tough, macho environment; the biting indictment of shallow gay men; and the hilarious camp performance by Daltrey who sinks his toothy grin into his role with lecherous gusto.
