Lynda Mansell (Emily Lloyd) is a brash rebellious teenager in a staid post-war English seaside town. She is crude, flirtatious and loves to insult with "Up your bum". She has wild mood swings and constantly gets fired from her jobs. She gets sent to a psychiatrist. She has flings. Her father's bookie pushes his way into her life and she joins in an affair that results in a pregnancy.Emily Lloyd is fantastic. As a drama, the movie needs more tension. She could be challenged by a wife. Or else, she has to have something that could be lost by her behavior. None of the guys are worth a dime. By the movie's own account, it's inevitable that she would separate from her father. If there are no stakes, there is no danger. As a comedy, it has one extremely funny sequence. It's hilarious when she gets fired. The movie needs a few more comedic sequences like that. She needs a partner to play the comedy off of. Emily Lloyd is great but she's alone too much.

This is one of the most depressing films ever made - and they package and sell it as a comedy?! WTF?!!! And on top of that it has one of the worst social messages communicated by a film I've ever seen - "Teen age girls, if your life stinks, just have a baby out of wed-lock, that will make everything OK!" - WTF?!!!! The acting is fine, the crew does what it has to, but the sum and substance of this film is GARBAGE! Where is the sense of responsibility on the part of the film-makers - the studio - the distributors? And despite the packaging, this is not funny - there is not a humorous moment in the whole film.I feel ripped off, I feel dirty, I feel the whole film existed to make me feel guilty for being human - slimy, post-mod variation of puritanical bullscheiss.And don't give me any crap about feminism - this film abuses women with its message. Women - you will not get any more mature or any more liberated by having babies out of wed-lock - you will produce people that you helped create who will hate you forever.An evil film best left forgotten.

This is a strange low-budget British drama about a young, promiscuous woman (was Lynda supposed to be a teenager throughout the film?) who asserts her independence in strange way (though less strange by the finale). Her precocious behavior stems from an odd relationship with her family. Once her mother dies, she becomes alienated from her estranged father and her "boring" sister (seriously, what was this kid doing all the time walking around in a scouts uniform carrying a flag?). Nonetheless, I suppose seeking solace in a meaningful relationship with other men (but I assume she realizes that none of these relationships are actually meaningful at all), she goes from one man to another, which serves only to further aggravate her father and others around her. Set in the late 40s/early 50s England, her outlandish, exhibitionist behavior is perceived as much more wild and offensive as she attempts to basically turn any convention about young women of the period on its head. (Whether this is to gain her father's attention, I'm never sure). Until the ultimate staging of independence (see the movie, why don't'cha?).As odd as the film was (I especially was amused by Lynda's intent to use as much foul language as possible whenever the opportunity presented itself, which was often), Emily Lloyd did a fine job in the lead character. Although she is familiar to these types of roles, reminiscent of her character, Cookie (Cookie, 1989) or Samantha (In Country, 1989), or countless other films that she appeared in, portraying the same type of character. It is not at all surprising that her film debut role would garner her Best Actress awards (British honors and the National Society of Film Critics Awards--US). She was an excellent choice for the part and that is reason alone to see it.

I went to see this movie because Siskal and Ebert recommended it and made it seem like a sweet delightful film. What it was really was a very young girl living with a really disgusting man who was cast as her father but he seemed too old. After losing her Mother to a fatal illness she was bereft and taken advantage of by her fathers equally disgusting old geezer friend in the falling down old garden shed behind the house. They set up housekeeping in this old shed but I was just depressed and sickened that no one seemed to see this as just plain molestation. This girl wasn't looking for sex at all she was looking for emotional comfort, in her grief. The acting may be quite good but I had a difficult time getting past my annoyance to appreciate it.Possibly men don't recognize molestation when they see it.