User Reviews

.SPOILER!!!! I saw the movie for the first time last night, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. The performances by the two lead characters were not only believable, but touching as well.

The most enjoyable aspect of the movie (and what could easily be missed if you miss the shower scene at the very beginning of it) is the twist in the story at the very end. In the shower scene, we see a young Prentice coming to the defence of and comforting a schoolmate after being picked on by a group of bullies/students for being queer. The assumption is made that the boy Prentice "rescues" is Kim/Karl. However, we only realize near the end of the movie when Kim/Karl's before and after photos are published by the newspaper that he was actually NOT the rescued boy, but one of the bullies instead.

All in all, the movie is a really good watch, and I would definitely see it again....

The next movie on my list of trans movies to watch. The thing I liked most about this one was that it's a feel-good movie: you know it will end well. The police drama felt very real, acab was certainly true here.

I didn't care about the side plot with the sister, it was kind of out of nowhere and had basically nothing to do with the actual story going on. I also wish they'd gotten an actual trans woman to play this role. It makes it hard to see her as a woman when in reality this actually is a man and not a trans woman, but that aside. The acting was alright. I personally didn't like the sex scene, I'd rather they just kissed, but that's just me being ace. It was very nice to have it be very clear that she was desirable, often trans women are just dismissed as a potential love interest, so this is really lovely.

Bit weird that on the IMDB page it says "Karl" while the movie makes it a point that her name is Kim. Also saw quite a few people getting confused about her pronouns. She says she's a woman, it's not that hard.

It's like this: "I've got a great idea for a movie, a heterosexual man falling for a transsexual, but I can't seem to make it interesting enough so I'll throw in the transsexuals' sisters drama, some prudish outfits for the tranny, a penis shot and two people getting unjustly arrested to make it interesting." This was a bad story with terrible acting (except Rupert Graves) and a terribly prudishly dressed transsexual. This is completely overrated by the people who've rated this movie. The idea is wonderful, somewhat "Crying Game"-ish, but for a similar story (man falling in love with transsexual) done much better see "Crying Game".

Generally I am not as forgiving with 'GLBT films', and that is due to the fact that most of them fall into the same old, same old patterns and often come off as either stereotypical or insulting. When I heard about this film, I thought it might actually be an amusing diversion.

However, that couldn't be far from the truth; for one thing it's neither funny nor witty (except on a decidedly sophomoric level), and in fact it's a bleak and depressing affair with no attention given to entertainment of any kind. For another it's very poorly realised; if they knew they couldn't show something convincingly, they shouldn't have done so at all. In the completely gratuitous nude scene 'Kim' and her breasts look like hollow plastic bought on the cheap at a Halloween sale. Last but not least of all, everyone in it is so badly-directed and, well, badly-everything: the truth about 'Kim' is easily guessed from the outset as they chose a horse-faced actor to portray 'her', and the usually charming and handsome Rupert Graves is woefully miscast in a role that is jarringly inappropriate for him. A talented actor he is indeed, but along with everyone else he was not convincing in the look or character he portrayed here.

Likewise gratuitous is the scene where he flops out his phallus for no convincing reason other than for the makers of the film to say they included front male nudity, a common thread in most GLBT films that would otherwise not draw any audience whatsoever. It's employed much the same way here, incongruous and groan-worthy. One can only imagine Rupert really needed the paycheck. Completing the trilogy of gratuitousness is the subplot with the sister, which comes literally out of nowhere and takes its time finding its way back to exactly the same place.

If you like watching films along the calibre of the abysmal Lifetime network Movies of the Week, this will be right up your alley. If you prefer something less condescending and more cerebral, less stereotypical and more unique, look for something else. Essentially this film is nothing more than a stock female 'romantic comedy' -- with inclusions of 'comedy' that can barely be called token -- with a gratuitous transsexual 'twist' to it, and that is handled in an extremely unconvincing way by both characters and actors.

Perhaps I just don't see the point of another film where a male 'falls in love' with a female (whatever the circumstances), especially since it's just unnecessarily complicated by a contrived backstory. This is nothing more than a stock film with unexceptional performances, poor direction, bad makeup and costumes, and atrocious casting that attempts to incorporate a single 'controversial' quality to make it seem 'edgy' and thus somehow worthy of praise. These sorts of filmmakers know all too well that the LGBT community does, on the whole, latch protectively onto any film that gives even the remotest positive portrayal of any of their number, and they take advantage of it. I really wish more of us included in that number could see through transparent, lamentably bad attempts like this to simply draw undeserved praise for nothing special.

It is difficult to summarise this film because it is so complex. I bought the DVD having caught only part of the film when it was shown on television. It begins with a bullying scene in the school shower where a young man is enjoying warmth and comfort in what might be termed an effeminate pose. This is interrupted by a "normal" group of pupils led by the bully. As they mock him ,what must be his only friend comes to the rescue and both are mocked and accused of being queer. 16 or so years later they meet when Kims taxi collides with his old school friend Prentiss who is a dispatch rider. There follows a meeting which goes wrong and makes both of them look to their pasts. Prentiss takes flowers to Kim where she works and embarrasses both of them. This is what a man might do to say sorry to a woman yet Prentiss has not outwardly accepted that Kim is a woman. The second date starts badly at a disco but following a chase by some trouble seeking hotheads sees the relationship improve and they dance together at Prentiss's rooms. It seems to me that this is the point at which Kim and Prentiss start to fall in love. Kim has begun to bring out the female side of Prentiss and he begins to bring out her masculine side. At the start of the film both of the main characters were showing only their male and female sides but now this all changes. When he takes her home and she tries to kiss him and he pulls back, is for me the saddest part of the film. The scene where they ride the motorbike is confirmation that each has tried to understand and accept the other for what they are and for what they are becoming. The scene where Prentiss's girlfriend takes him shopping and he runs through the varieties of XX,XY,XXX and so on is there to show that there is no such thing as "normal" and the difference between the male and female is very narrow. Then we have the meal at Kims where having asked what changes had happened to her body following the surgery and treatment. She explains in a very calm way how she has changed and you can see him visibly squirm when he realises that she has given him an erection. There follows the scene outside her flat where he is arrested for exposing himself in public and her for obstruction. We then see them in a van being taken to the police station and the bigoted policeman tries to see whether there is anything between Kims legs followed by an assault on Prentiss by the same policeman. There follows scenes in the police station where Prentiss does not accept the offer to negate his exposing himself if he drops his formal complaint against the policeman and is charged to appear in court. Kim gets the usual gender questioning comments but is released without charge. Prentiss turns up at Kims flat following his release and seeks her help in giving statements and evidence that the policeman attacked him. She runs off to her sisters house and finds out that they have problems and they centre on the husbands inability to father a child of his own. To him this fact means that he is not a "man". Again we see the questioning of gender. Prentiss having been angry with Kim following a visit to her workplace calls at her sisters to say that he understands how she feels and that he does not expect her to give evidence in court. It is when she returns to work that her onscreen poetry about Prentiss is discovered and she realises that she has to help him by giving evidence in court. This she does to his surprise and in effect states her love for him and he without knowing does the same when in court he sings "The girl I love is up in the gallery". Prentiss is freed and the tabloid press try unsuccessfully to buy their story. They return to Kims flat having had a celebratory pizza and having asked to stay overnight at her flat he asks to see what her body was like. The scene where she undresses and they make love is the most moving I have ever seen. It was love and not sex. They lay for a while after talking and Prentiss ponders over what to do now he had no job or money and nowhere to live. He turns up at one of the tabloids and sells his story and you feel that he has betrayed Kim. What can easily be missed when the story appears in the paper is that the photograph of the school bully has been given to the paper as being Karl before the sex change. Kim goes to work to clear her desk assuming she has lost her job only to find that the boss likes her and asks her to stay. The final scene sees them both leaving the flat to go to work dressed in full black leathers discussing who should do the shopping. They disagree and the second twist in the tale appears when we find that it is Kim who told Prentiss to sell the story for the money to buy the gleaming red Ducati that she drives with him as the passenger. I have watched the film at least 15 times and the more times I watch the more I see. I would only watch the older British films and I scorned the modern films apart from a few. To me when I think of my childhood I see parallels that I find quite disturbing and so perhaps I see things in the film that others don't. There wasn't a bad bit of acting anywhere and in fact everyone was good except for the 2 main characters. They were brilliant, stupendous, fantastic and wonderful. Rupert Graves had a difficult role played to perfection, Steven Mackintoshs performance in what I feel was the more difficult part was simply breathtaking. Forget the "popcorn" hollywood films which are there for fun only. If you want to laugh and cry, go and buy this film.

Paul: "Kim. I am straight, you know."

Kim: "So am I."

Brilliant, and so true for both characters. I love the dialogue in the film, and the preceding quote is one of my all time favorite lines in any movie. And it pretty much summed up the whole romance 'Different for Girls.'

I remember seeing 'Different' in the theater in 1997 (I'm shocked it was even shown here in ultra-conservative Phoenix, especially in that decade), as I am an avid Rupert Graves fan since 'Maurice.' And the first word of the title certainly fits. Yes, I was drawn to the film for the actor and content, but I had no idea how far off it was to what I expected. Now, watching it over 11 years later, I remember how much I loved it. The acting (especially Graves,) the complexity of the main characters (no one's cookie-cutter) and great music used makes this twist on an old love story unique. It also makes a great statement.

What better message does this movie convey – people can fall in love with people, no matter the gender, present or past. As per that quote, heterosexual Paul almost receives a kiss from post-op Kim. Leading up to this point, we've gathered that Kim (formally Karl) has been ruthlessly picked on during his childhood and he was always saved by white knight, Paul. Years pass, and a chance encounter brings back the childhood friends. A (no spoiler) spark ignites, and we see hot-head Paul trail humble, adjusting Kim around town. Some subplots (the film's only real downfall) develop and are mostly irrelevant, aside from a perverted police/court case that sums up the always down-on-his-luck (for obvious reasons) Paul and his need to redeem himself in saving his old pal.

Other than Kim's sister and place of employment sidebars, the movie is pretty straightforward. The "difference" is the message I already mentioned. True love knows no genders (or boundaries), and I wish more people would realize that. Paul's not in love with another man, or a man-turned-woman. He's in love with the person.