Dating Amber (2020)

Dating Amber explores what it was like to be a gay teenager in Ireland in the mid-90s. While the movie is most relatable to the LGBT community, it captures the feelings many had during adolescence. The feeling of being different. The fear of being judged. The story takes you through the journey of Eddie and Amber, and how their relationship blossoms, as they both begin to accept who they are. Though the movie tries to be original, it is the setting that makes it stand out. David Freyne does a great job in bringing the social trials and tribulations of the lives of teenagers living in rural Ireland to the screen.

Fmovies: First off I will say great cast, I have seen many of the main actors in other pieces so I can only blame the direction and script for the downfall of what I saw. I will also add that I am southern Itish, gay and that I went to secondary school in the 90s, though actually in a city school.

The critic review says based in northern Ireland, but this was based in southern Ireland in the 90s - 1995 to be exact and that is important as it would have been a different experience in northern Ireland especially as the 'troubles' were still quite rife then, as is properly depicted in Derry Girls! Instead you find out this is in Newbridge a town in Kildare just outside Dublin, which makes sense of the Dublin references throughout. The light touch to the influence of Catholic church and how the teenagers were able to behave at school was totally unrelatable. If it was meant to be funny it just failed on both accounts as it didn't reflect the time accurately and the humour was then distracted and not even the odd word like 'shift' made it feel of the time.

I think this is my main issue with it. Coming out in 90s Ireland was excruciatingly hard and the oppression for both men and women from society, religion and family was for the majority too much, to the point where many haven't and others waited to far later in life to do so, myself included (I didn't come out until my 30s - actually very common for those of that era I have learned). For those that did they faced the fear of being ostracised by family and community, plus treats of being beaten up. Given that one of these households was an army home and then that the other had suffered the loss of suicide (which was still viewed as a sin at the time with massive stigma and shame around) neither story felt real for not even capturing this, I don't think the army father's homophobia would have been anything near that passive if he was as emotionally repressed as they tried to imply.

The sentiment overall is well intentioned and that they protected each other and created this cloak for each other is definitely believable. The time setting and the surrounding storylines, environment and characters though we're not and distracted. What was worse and I also felt it had the potential to invalidate and does somewhat belittle the many 100s of 1000s of stories of Irish gay women and men who have spoken of how difficult it was to come then and still is to come out especially in rural situations.

It feels like it's time to show some of the real, more challenging, stories and stop with all.parents come round and are accepting. Yes many were and are, and I was one of the lucky ones who's parents came round with a lot of time. However there are still many for whom there is no acceptance and the pain and loneliness, of that rejection is what needs depicting to show the impact on those affected to those that reject them. That is the story that needs telling in Ireland and other nations in my eyes and would be the real step forward. If you could tie that up in a good comedy script, to offset the heavy moments, that would be golden.

A simple, funny and charming story about love, friendship and being who you are. Lola Petticrew and Fionn O'Shea are brilliant as the 2 teens struggling to come out.

Dating Amber fmovies. We can learn a lot from Ireland. In our crazy times it's wonderful to watch just a simple fun movie

This movie was so sweet and heartfelt, I honestly loved it so so much. It's a wonderful coming of age film with a genuine friendship between the main characters. The characters were so loveable, the story was true to life, heartfelt and heartbreaking with funny bits in between and with a killer soundtrack too! Very well written and had my heart clenching, I cried a few times not going to lie.

With so many amazing coming of age love stories about straight couples coming out on Netflix these days I sometimes feel sad that I don't get to see myself represented in those cute movies, especially as a wlw. As a queer young woman it's hard to find modern coming of age films that you can genuinely relate to and Dating Amber touched my heart.

Beautiful film, highly recommend.

This is quite a refreshingly clever coming-of age story with Fionn O'Shea ("Eddie") and Lola Petticrew ("Amber") as two gay teenagers who hit upon the perfect ploy to make sure they are left in peace by their classmates: they decide to date each other! Their cunning plan deceives all their mates and even engenders quite a bit of jealousy from some of his pals whilst giving them a perfect cover. He is a bit smitten with his quite hunky teacher; she wants to escape it all to go to London and be a punk. It's a touching little yarn, with two enjoyable performances from both as they come to terms with living and coming out (or not!) in a small Irish community very much un-used to things gay back in the mid 1990s. I haven't a religious bone in my body, so cannot testify to the accuracy of the representations David Freyne makes of the church, but the Catholic nun's sex education video is remarkably plausible (and bigoted). The writing and directing is uncomplicated. There is no bullying or oppressiveness which maybe doesn't lend too much to it's authenticity, but it does to it's charm. It isn't a gritty warts-and-all story of sexual evolution; it's a frequently comical story of two kids coming to terms with who they are and what they want from life. Like any of us knew at that age....