Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

seymourblack-1 It begins like a political thriller and develops into a romantic drama but what's most remarkable about "The Crying Game" is its incredible originality. It's essentially a piece about what it is to be human and the extent to which an individual's nature determines the directions that they take in life. The story that illustrates this is a real "one-off" and features a group of interesting characters whose awareness of their own nature and that of other people, varies considerably. The events depicted and the issues raised must've been challenging for many audiences at first and so it's rather surprising that in the years since the release of this film, that there haven't been more mainstream movies which have ventured into the same territory.During "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland, a British soldier called Jody (Forest Whitaker) befriends local girl Jude (Miranda Richardson) and after having some fun at a fairground, decides to move to somewhere a little quitter where they can be more intimate. As soon as they find a suitable spot, Jody finds himself being held at gunpoint and realises that he's been lured into a trap. He's taken hostage by an IRA cell whose members want to negotiate a prisoner exchange with the British Army and tell him that he'll be executed if their plan doesn't succeed within three days.In a remote country location, cell-member Fergus (Stephen Rea) is assigned to the task of guarding Jody and in the hours that follow, an unlikely friendship develops between them during which Jody shows Fergus a photograph of his girlfriend in London. The soldier, who's obviously convinced that his guard is a kind and decent man, says that if he's executed, he'd like Fergus to look up his girlfriend, buy her a maguerita and tell her that Jody was thinking of her. Fergus promises to do this and when it becomes evident that no prisoner exchange is going to be possible and Fergus will have to carry out the execution, what follows illustrates that Jody's judgement of what Fergus' nature will allow him to do, was completely accurate. Jody is, nevertheless, killed during the mayhem that follows when the Army suddenly raid the location where he'd been held hostage. Fergus is fortunate to escape and makes his way to London where he assumes a new identity, gets a job working on building site and locates Jody's girlfriend, Dil (Jaye Davidson), who's a hairdresser in Millie's Hair Salon. After availing himself of Dil's services for "a trim", he goes to the Metro (a pub which Jody had told him that Dil frequents) where they strike up a conversation and subsequently become an item. They both withhold important information about themselves and inevitably some of the revelations that follow cause problems which are not made any easier to resolve when Jude suddenly arrives from Ireland and threatens that Dil will suffer unless Fergus agrees to take part in a planned assassination which Fergus immediately recognises is nothing short of a suicide mission"The Crying Game" is skilfully written with each development following on very naturally from what preceded it. This is quite an achievement because some of the twists are extraordinary and shocking and the characters and their relationships are continuously full of surprises. The quality of the acting is exceptional throughout with Stephen Rea standing out as the naïve Fergus who initially has virtually no awareness of his own nature and then struggles to deal with the situations he finds himself in. Forest Whitaker is fascinating as the cricket-loving soldier from Tottenham because, whilst he clearly has considerable insight into the significance of an individual's nature, its never entirely clear in his exchanges with Fergus, whether there's an element of manipulation involved. Jaye Davidson is brilliantly cast as the mysterious Dil who, although appearing confident, is actually vulnerable and needy and Miranda Richardson is faultless as the ruthless terrorist, Jude."The Crying Game" is absolutely compelling to watch because it's so different, so affecting and such a human story. It's also very thought-provoking and the title song is ideal because its haunting quality fits the atmosphere of the piece so perfectly.

Glassjaw86 I can't say anything that hasn't been said about this movie before. But I still wanted to add this review. This story took me for a spin. Sure, the direction and acting has flaws that damn near every 90s movie has. But it's 2+ hr runtime isn't enough to elaborate on everything this movie has to offer. I would've watched a 3+ hr version, were it ever made. I wish I had the vocabulary and eloquence to explain all the things this film made me feel and all the themes I noticed and explored in my mind during and after. This is a movie I can watch over and over again. Much like Before Sunrise, I love the characters and despite lacking a significant backstory I find myself musing over who they are and how they lived. Keep an open mind about this film and ignore the hype of "the big twist" because it's so much more than just a twist gimmick movie.

quinimdb "The Crying Game" was probably great in 1991, and the reviews reflect this, and it's still a pretty good movie today, but I can't help but feel that it's a bit dated. The film begins at a carnival with a man having sex with a woman, before suddenly a few other men holding guns come in and take the man away with a bag over his head. So it gets off suddenly and it's pretty intriguing, before one man (who we soon learn is actually our main character) explains the situation directly to us. We learn that Fergus and several other Irish Republican Army men (and the one woman that was having sex before) have taken Jody, a British soldier. Fergus and Jody bond when Fergus watches over him, much to the dismay of the other IRA members. These scenes are very well executed and the blocking in camera movements in them mirror the state of their relationship as it changes. Watch the scene in which Jody describes the frog and the scorpion story to Fergus. Fergus also learns that Jody has a woman at home whom he admires, and he plays cricket. Jody asks Fergus to take care of his woman when he dies. This close bonding leads to a rather tense scene in which Jody is supposed to be killed, and then isn't because of Fergus' good nature, and then is, by forces that were beyond his control. This lack of control is one of the main sources of fear for our main character, and it works for a little, but after Jody is killed, the movie gets a bit wonky in pacing and style.Fergus then moves to try and find the woman he promised to care for for Jody. He is driven by the cricket field that he works by. From here, the film gets rather predictable and unnecessarily slow for a little while. He meets Dil. He falls in love with Dil, and gets rid of her bad abusive boyfriend, who is the source of much of the strange and unfunny humor in this part of the film. She gives him a blow job, then he finds out that she's a man, which is a way more expected "twist" than it should be. There are many obvious nods about her sexuality up to this point. It should be subversive, but it's not. Fergus is very surprised, and slightly disturbed, but he comes back to her, because he ultimately does care for Dil despite her sexuality just as he cared for Jody despite being his hostage. Even if he causes himself and those around him to sink, his nature is being good. The film begins to start building at a good pace towards the last 10 minutes from here, and the last 10 minutes are great, tense, meaningful, and quite impressive in terms of editing and such, but so much of the middle of the film feels unnecessary and outdated, such as the music, humor, and the predictable "twist".

Susan Fetzer Released in 1992, The Crying Game was considered to be one of the most controversial films of its time, and it featured one of the most well-kept secret plot twists in movie history. This film was criticized in both the UK, where it was filmed, and in America, but for entirely different reasons. Within the UK, The Crying Game was not well- received because of the underlying political issues, particularly the sympathetic portrayal of an IRA agent. In the U.S., the film was criticized mainly for what director Neil Jordan referred to as "sexual politics." These specific elements, however, were precisely what drew audiences to the film. Neil Jordan's outstanding film deals with important themes of race, nationality, gender, and sexuality in a way that has opened my mind to a whole new approach to filmmaking. I have a tremendous appreciation for the way this film pushed boundaries, not for the sake of shock value but because it was absolutely essential for telling this story. It is my belief that artists should to be able to freely express themselves in their work, however contentious it may be. Controversial topics like those in The Crying Game should be embraced and celebrated rather than shied away from.