{ "id": "epcy18ckn6", "slug": "get-real", "title": "Get Real", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1995-to-1999", "label": "Comedies of 1995 to 1999", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1995-to-1999" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1995-to-1999.teen-comedies", "label": "Teen comedies", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1995-to-1999.teen-comedies" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000: Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Get Real (1998) is a British coming-of-age comedy-drama directed by Simon Shore, adapted by Patrick Wilde from his play What's Wrong With Angry?, starring Ben Silverstone and Brad Gorton as closeted schoolboys in Basingstoke; released by Paramount Classics in 1999.", "snippet": "Get Real (1998) is a British coming-of-age comedy-drama directed by Simon Shore, adapted by Patrick Wilde from his play What's Wrong With Angry?, starring Ben Silverstone and Brad Gorton as closeted schoolboys in Basingstoke; released by Paramount Classics in 1999.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1995-to-1999.teen-comedies", "markdown": "# Get Real\n\n**Get Real** is a 1998 British coming-of-age comedy-drama directed by Simon Shore, in which a closeted gay teenager at a secondary school in [Basingstoke](https://www.edgepedia.org/basingstoke) begins a secret romance with the school's star athlete. It was written by Patrick Wilde as an adaptation of his 1992 stage play *What's Wrong With Angry?*, produced by Stephen Taylor, and stars Ben Silverstone, Brad Gorton, and Charlotte Brittain.[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/cdd3250b-0fb3-5504-8c4a-6fe0bcfe73de/get-real) A United Kingdom and South Africa co-production, it premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival in August 1998 and received a limited United States theatrical release from Paramount Classics in April 1999.[2](https://bensilverstone.net/get-real-2/the-history-of-get-real/) • [3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0162973/)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Production | 1998, United Kingdom and South Africa; directed by Simon Shore, produced by Stephen Taylor, written by Patrick Wilde[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/cdd3250b-0fb3-5504-8c4a-6fe0bcfe73de/get-real) |\n| Source | Adaptation of Wilde's 1992 stage play *What's Wrong With Angry?*[2](https://bensilverstone.net/get-real-2/the-history-of-get-real/) |\n| Principal cast | Ben Silverstone (Steven Carter), Brad Gorton (John Dixon), Charlotte Brittain (Linda)[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/cdd3250b-0fb3-5504-8c4a-6fe0bcfe73de/get-real) |\n| Running time | 110 minutes[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/cdd3250b-0fb3-5504-8c4a-6fe0bcfe73de/get-real) |\n| Release | Edinburgh premiere August 1998; limited US theatrical release April 30, 1999 by Paramount Classics[2](https://bensilverstone.net/get-real-2/the-history-of-get-real/) • [3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0162973/) |\n| Box office | $1,152,979 domestic, $1,176,597 worldwide[3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0162973/) |\n| Reception | 79% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (47 reviews) and 84% from audiences[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/get_real) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nSteven Carter (Ben Silverstone) is a sixteen-year-old model student in Basingstoke, a commuter town about 40 miles southwest of London that the Los Angeles Times critic Kevin Thomas described as conservative and conventional, a community that prefers not to acknowledge that gay people exist.[5](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-apr-30-ca-32476-story.html) Steven keeps his sexuality hidden from everyone except Linda (Charlotte Brittain), his neighbor and best friend, and occasionally looks for partners at a public toilet in a local park.[6](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/get-real-1999) On one visit he encounters John Dixon (Brad Gorton), the school's most popular athlete, bound for an Oxbridge career, who is there for the same reason.[7](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/get-real) • [6](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/get-real-1999)\n\nThe two begin a secret affair that John refuses to make public. Steven is caught between wanting to be honest with his friends and family and knowing that coming out would put the relationship at risk.[8](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/90552--get-real/) The conflict sharpens when John, keeping up his heterosexual cover in front of a group of gay-bashers, beats Steven up in the locker room.[6](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/get-real-1999) Steven eventually writes an anonymous article for the school magazine about being gay at school; the school refuses to publish it, and the article's authorship is revealed, forcing the choice between being himself and being in love.[6](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/get-real-1999) • [9](https://barnboken.net/index.php/clr/article/download/523/1681/) • [10](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/get-real)\n\n## Origins and production\n\nPatrick Wilde wrote *What's Wrong With Angry?* in 1992, when the age of consent for gay men in Britain was twenty-one against sixteen for heterosexuals, and [Section 28](https://www.edgepedia.org/section-28) legislation forbade the \"promoting of a positive image of homosexuality\", especially in schools. He said he wrote it because he was sick of being told, even by gay people, that it was easier to be gay now.[2](https://bensilverstone.net/get-real-2/the-history-of-get-real/) The play opened at the LOST Theatre in Fulham in September 1993 to an audience of six, sold out after the gay press gave it rave reviews, and played to capacity houses in later runs. After a performance at the Battersea Arts Centre, director Simon Shore and producer Stephen Taylor approached Wilde about a film version.[2](https://bensilverstone.net/get-real-2/the-history-of-get-real/) • [11](https://hampshirearchivestrust.co.uk/stories/blog/get-real-basingstoke-and-gay-rights-in-the-1990s)\n\n**Funding and shoot.** In March 1997 the Arts Council of England, through the Lottery, funded most of the film, which was green-lit three years after it was first commissioned. Filming took place on location in Basingstoke for six weeks in the summer of 1997, with Ben Silverstone cast as Steven after an extended search for an actor young enough for the role.[2](https://bensilverstone.net/get-real-2/the-history-of-get-real/) The British Council database lists the production companies as Graphite Films (Get Real) Ltd with Distant Horizon as sales company, and credits Anant Singh and Helena Spring as producers, Alan Almond as director of photography, and a 35mm format.[10](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/get-real)\n\n## Release and reception\n\nThe finished film screened publicly for the first time at the Edinburgh Film Festival in August 1998, where it won the Audience Award, and Paramount Classics bought it for distribution.[2](https://bensilverstone.net/get-real-2/the-history-of-get-real/) It toured festivals including Sundance before a limited cinema release in 1999.[12](https://cineramafilm.com/2025/08/18/get-real-1998/) In the United States it opened wide on April 30, 1999 in six theaters, grossing $54,254 on its opening weekend and eventually $1,152,979 domestically over a twenty-week run, with a maximum of 45 theaters.[3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0162973/) • [13](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Get-Real) Reported production budgets differ: The Numbers lists $2,000,000, while several databases list $1.2 million.[13](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Get-Real) • [14](https://moviewiser.com/za/movie/24584)\n\nCritics responded warmly. The Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus calls it \"an authentic portrayal of homosexuality in high school\" and \"an engaging dramedy that doesn't sermonize its audience nor trivialize its characters\"; the site records 79% from 47 critics and 84% from more than 5,000 audience ratings.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/get_real) Roger Ebert, longtime film critic of the [Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-sun-times) and winner of the 1975 [Pulitzer Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/pulitzer-prize) for criticism, wrote that the movie \"is sound in all the right ways; it argues that we are as we are, and the best thing to do is accept that.\"[6](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/get-real-1999) Variety's Derek Elley called it \"fresh, funny and thoroughly engaging,\" while [TV Guide](https://www.edgepedia.org/tv-guide)'s Sandra Contreras praised Shore's confident feature directing debut but found the storytelling valued accessibility above complexity.[15](https://watch.plex.tv/en-GB/movie/get-real)\n\n## Awards\n\nThe film won the Golden Hitchcock and the Audience Award at the 1998 Dinard British Film Festival, the Audience Award at the 1998 Edinburgh International Film Festival, the 1999 Emden Film Award, and the Jury Prize for Best European Film and Audience Award at the 1999 Ourense Independent Film Festival. It was nominated for a 1999 British Independent Film Award for Best Achievement in Production, and Ben Silverstone received a 2000 Chlotrudis Award nomination for Best Actor.[16](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162973/awards/)\n\n## Legacy\n\nScholars place Get Real within the wave of 1990s British and American gay coming-out films alongside *Beautiful Thing* (1996) and *Edge of Seventeen* (1998), films aimed partly at young gay viewers seeking supportive and optimistic visualizations of queer life.[17](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1479142042000244961) Academic analysis has noted how its scenes about cruising grounds and the school's refusal to publish Steven's article reflect the effects of Section 28, under which schools lacked educational information about gay people and restricted positive input from teachers.[9](https://barnboken.net/index.php/clr/article/download/523/1681/) A retrospective assessment in Cinerama describes the film as a turning point in gay storytelling in British cinema and a forerunner of later coming-out narratives such as *Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda*.[12](https://cineramafilm.com/2025/08/18/get-real-1998/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Get Real (1998), British Film Institute](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/cdd3250b-0fb3-5504-8c4a-6fe0bcfe73de/get-real)\n2. [The History of Get Real, Patrick Wilde (Ben Silverstone fan site)](https://bensilverstone.net/get-real-2/the-history-of-get-real/)\n3. [Get Real (1998), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0162973/)\n4. [Get Real, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/get_real)\n5. [Enlightening 'Real' Looks at Pressures of Gay and Teen Life, Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times, April 30, 1999](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-apr-30-ca-32476-story.html)\n6. [Get Real movie review & film summary, Roger Ebert, May 14, 1999](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/get-real-1999)\n7. [Get Real streaming: where to watch movie online, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/get-real)\n8. [Get real, Simon Shore, 1999, ACMI collection](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/90552--get-real/)\n9. [Visual Identity and the Queer Aesthetics of Passing: Gay Teen Body Politics in Sebastian, Beautiful Thing, and Get Real, Lance Weldy, Barnboken 43 (2020)](https://barnboken.net/index.php/clr/article/download/523/1681/)\n10. [British Council UK Films Database: Get Real](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/get-real)\n11. [Get Real: Basingstoke and gay rights in the 1990s, Hampshire Archive Trust](https://hampshirearchivestrust.co.uk/stories/blog/get-real-basingstoke-and-gay-rights-in-the-1990s)\n12. [Get Real (1998), Cinerama, August 18, 2025](https://cineramafilm.com/2025/08/18/get-real-1998/)\n13. [Get Real (1999), Box Office and Financial Information, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Get-Real)\n14. [Get Real, MovieWiser](https://moviewiser.com/za/movie/24584)\n15. [Get Real, Plex (aggregated reviews)](https://watch.plex.tv/en-GB/movie/get-real)\n16. [Get Real (1998), Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162973/awards/)\n17. [Edge of seventeen: melodramatic coming-out in new queer adolescence films, Gilad Padva, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies 1(4), 2004](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1479142042000244961)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 1995 to 1999 › Teen comedies*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/get-real", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/get-real.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Get Real\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/get-real. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Get Real](https://www.edgepedia.org/get-real)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/get-real](https://www.edgepedia.org/get-real). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Get Real\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/get-real. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Get Real is a British coming-of-age comedy-drama directed by Simon Shore, adapted by Patrick Wilde from his play What's Wrong With Angry?, starring Ben Silverstone and Brad Gorton as closeted schoolboys in Basingstoke; released by Paramount Classics in 1999." }