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Queerly Ever After #54: LIKE IT IS (1998)

Queerly Ever After #54: LIKE IT IS (1998)

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Queerly Ever After #54 LIKE IT IS (1998)

Queerly Ever After is a bi-monthly column where I take a look at LGBT+ films that gave their characters a romantic happily-ever-after. There will be spoilers. Also, don’t forget to buy your Queerly Ever After merch right here.

Craig (Steve Bell) is a tough, bare-knuckle fighter from Blackpool, England. His days revolve around working out at the gym and fighting in an underground boxing club. He’s also gay, and while he’s completely sure of his sexuality, his lack of experience and tough upbringing cause him to have a hard time accepting it. One night, outside of a club called Flamingos, he meets Matt (Ian Rose), a gay Londoner, an up-and-coming music producer in Blackpool on business with his client/best friend Paula (Dani Behr), who is performing at Flamingos.

Queerly Ever After #54: LIKE IT IS (1998)
source: Dangerous to Know

Craig and Matt are instantly drawn to each other and they retire to Craig’s house to listen to music and drink beer. When it comes time to hook up though, Craig wants to jump right into things, though he has never actually had penetrative sex with another guy, and before long, he freaks out and tells Matt to leave. Matt does, but he leaves Craig his number and address in London in case Craig ever wants to talk.

A couple of weeks later, Craig shows up at Matt’s flat in London. Matt, who has been thinking about Craig since he left Blackpool is surprised and elated to see him, much to the chagrin of Paula. She views Craig’s presence as a threat to her friendship with Matt. Although there is nothing romantic between them, her neediness and jealousy are on full display, and she immediately dislikes Craig. Now Craig can be incredibly brash, and is apt to start bar fights, he has some anger issues that he really needs to work through, but Paula’s dislike of him doesn’t stem from his actual character flaws but from Matt’s interest in him.

Two Lovers Against the World

It’s not just Paula who doesn’t approve of Craig, Matt’s unscrupulous boss, Kelvin (Roger Daltrey, yes of The Who fame), sees Matt’s relationship with Craig as a liability. He sees a lot of himself in Matt and wants to mold him into a man just like he is. Matt, who has bid dreams of running his own music club, knows Kelvin is bad news but sees work with him as a stepping stone to getting where he wants to be.

Queerly Ever After #54: LIKE IT IS (1998)
source: Dangerous to Know

Eventually, through Kelvin’s machinations to break him and Craig up, he realizes that if he continues to work for Kelvin he’ll likely get rich, but he’ll also be miserable.

In Conclusion: Like It Is

This romantic drama is set in a part of England that we don’t often see on screen, especially in the context of a gay love story. For that, it’s a daring picture. The plotting and pacing are occasionally clunky, and you can see the film’s made-for-tv trappings, but the cast does a great job with the material. It’s interesting to see Dani Behr in this film, prior to watching this movie my only knowledge of her was her time hosting one of the most offensive reality tv shows ever: the short-lived Boy Meets Boy. In Boy Meets Boy, a gay eligible bachelor has a group of twenty-odd suitors, his goal is to find true love with one of them. Sounds like The Bachelor but with a gay twist. Sadly, unbeknownst to the leading man, half of his suitors are gay, and half are straight men pretending to be gay. If in the end, he chooses a gay suitor, he wins money and a dream vacation, if he picks a straight guy, the straight guy wins the money and vacation. Yeah, I don’t know how that show ever got picked up. I watched it, and it’s as bad as you’d expect. Anyway, that’s not to take away from Like It Is which, despite its flaws, I did enjoy.

Like It Is was written by Robert Gray and directed by Paul Oremland. It came out on April 17, 1998 in the UK and August 28, 1998 in the USA. For all other release dates, see here.

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