The Best '90s British Movie
by ElMaruecan82 | created - 01 Aug 2018 | updated - 23 Aug 2018 | PublicTen Best Picture nominees and two winners, a Golden Palm, a dozen comedy classics and a James Bond come-back, the nineties were quite a roaring decade for British cinema... so good luck with the next question.
Which of these 1990s British movies is your favorite?
After voting, you might discuss the list here
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1. Trainspotting (1996)
R | 93 min | Drama
Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out, despite the allure of the drugs and influence of friends.
Director: Danny Boyle | Stars: Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd
Votes: 620,536 | Gross: $16.50M
2. Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
14A | 117 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Over the course of five social occasions, a committed bachelor must consider the notion that he may have discovered love.
Director: Mike Newell | Stars: Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell, James Fleet, Simon Callow
Votes: 135,044 | Gross: $52.70M
3. The Full Monty (1997)
14A | 91 min | Comedy, Drama
Six unemployed steel workers form a male striptease act. The women cheer them on to go for "the full monty" - total nudity.
Director: Peter Cattaneo | Stars: Robert Carlyle, Tom Wilkinson, Mark Addy, Wim Snape
Votes: 96,890 | Gross: $45.95M
4. Shakespeare in Love (1998)
14A | 123 min | Comedy, Drama, History
The world's greatest ever playwright, William Shakespeare, is young, out of ideas and short of cash, but meets his ideal woman and is inspired to write one of his most famous plays.
Director: John Madden | Stars: Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Tom Wilkinson
Votes: 210,114 | Gross: $100.32M
5. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
16+ | 107 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A botched card game in London triggers four friends, thugs, weed-growers, hard gangsters, loan sharks and debt collectors to collide with each other in a series of unexpected events, all for the sake of weed, cash and two antique shotguns.
Director: Guy Ritchie | Stars: Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran, Jason Statham
Votes: 521,507 | Gross: $3.90M
6. The Crying Game (1992)
16+ | 112 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A British soldier kidnapped by IRA terrorists soon befriends one of his captors, who then becomes drawn into the soldier's world.
Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Stephen Rea, Jaye Davidson, Forest Whitaker, Miranda Richardson
Votes: 49,913 | Gross: $62.55M
7. Notting Hill (1999)
14 | 124 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The life of a simple bookshop owner changes when he meets the most famous film star in the world.
Director: Roger Michell | Stars: Hugh Grant, Julia Roberts, Richard McCabe, Rhys Ifans
Votes: 263,632 | Gross: $116.09M
8. The Commitments (1991)
PG | 118 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
When Jimmy Rabbitte wants to start a band, he has open auditions at his house.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Robert Arkins, Michael Aherne, Angeline Ball, Maria Doyle Kennedy
Votes: 31,370 | Gross: $14.92M
9. Elizabeth (1998)
14 | 124 min | Biography, Drama, History
The early years of the reign of Elizabeth I of England and her difficult task of learning what is necessary to be a monarch.
Director: Shekhar Kapur | Stars: Cate Blanchett, Liz Giles, Rod Culbertson, Paul Fox
Votes: 90,850 | Gross: $30.08M
10. Secrets & Lies (1996)
R | 136 min | Comedy, Drama
Following the death of her adoptive parents, a successful young black optometrist establishes contact with her biological mother -- a lonely white factory worker living in poverty in East London.
Director: Mike Leigh | Stars: Timothy Spall, Brenda Blethyn, Phyllis Logan, Claire Rushbrook
Votes: 35,982 | Gross: $13.42M
11. Sense and Sensibility (1995)
PG | 136 min | Drama, Romance
Rich Mr. Dashwood dies, leaving his second wife and her three daughters poor by the rules of inheritance. The two eldest daughters are the title opposites.
Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, James Fleet, Tom Wilkinson
Votes: 98,731 | Gross: $43.18M
12. The Madness of King George (1994)
PG-13 | 110 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
When King George III goes mad, his Lieutenants try to adjust the rules to run the country without his participation.
Director: Nicholas Hytner | Stars: Nigel Hawthorne, Helen Mirren, Rupert Graves, Amanda Donohoe
Votes: 15,017 | Gross: $15.24M
13. The English Patient (1996)
14A | 162 min | Drama, Romance, War
At the close of World War II, a young nurse tends to a badly-burned plane crash victim. His past is shown in flashbacks, revealing an involvement in a fateful love affair.
Director: Anthony Minghella | Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Kristin Scott Thomas
Votes: 174,572 | Gross: $78.65M
14. The Remains of the Day (1993)
PG | 134 min | Drama, Romance
A butler who sacrificed body and soul to service in the years leading up to World War II realizes too late how misguided his loyalty was to his lordly employer.
Director: James Ivory | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, John Haycraft, Christopher Reeve
Votes: 63,479 | Gross: $22.95M
15. Brassed Off (1996)
14A | 108 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The coal mine in a northern English village may be closing, which would also mean the end of the miners' brass band.
Director: Mark Herman | Stars: Pete Postlethwaite, Tara Fitzgerald, Ewan McGregor, Stephen Tompkinson
Votes: 18,247 | Gross: $2.56M
16. My Name Is Joe (1998)
18A | 105 min | Drama, Romance
Two thirtysomethings, unemployed former alcoholic Joe and community health worker Sarah, start a romantic relationship in the one of the toughest Glasgow neighbourhoods.
Director: Ken Loach | Stars: Peter Mullan, Louise Goodall, Gary Lewis, Lorraine McIntosh
Votes: 7,494 | Gross: $0.35M
17. Life Is Sweet (1990)
13+ | 103 min | Comedy, Drama
A shop assistant, her cook husband, & their twin daughters ponder their lives over a few weeks in a working-class suburb north of London.
Director: Mike Leigh | Stars: Alison Steadman, Jim Broadbent, Claire Skinner, Jane Horrocks
Votes: 8,759 | Gross: $1.52M
18. Nil by Mouth (1997)
18A | 128 min | Drama
A rough, short-tempered patriarch of a working class family has his life and the relationships around him slowly unravel.
Director: Gary Oldman | Stars: Ray Winstone, Kathy Burke, Charlie Creed-Miles, Laila Morse
Votes: 8,303
19. Small Faces (1996)
R | 108 min | Drama
Three teenage brothers, gang-member Bobby, troubled mama's boy Alan and self-assured prankster Lex, reside in a downtrodden section of Glasgow, Scotland, circa 1968. But while Bobby and ... See full summary »
Director: Gillies MacKinnon | Stars: Iain Robertson, Joe McFadden, Steven Duffy, Laura Fraser
Votes: 1,421
20. Ratcatcher (1999)
94 min | Drama
An unabashed kid navigates the filthy world of 1973 Glasgow, preoccupying himself with the equally poor youth around him.
Director: Lynne Ramsay | Stars: Tommy Flanagan, Mandy Matthews, William Eadie, Michelle Stewart
Votes: 8,456 | Gross: $0.22M
21. Shallow Grave (1994)
14A | 89 min | Crime, Thriller
Three friends discover their new flatmate dead but loaded with cash.
Director: Danny Boyle | Stars: Kerry Fox, Christopher Eccleston, Ewan McGregor, Ken Stott
Votes: 55,517 | Gross: $2.88M
22. Truly Madly Deeply (1990)
PG | 106 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A woman dealing with inconsolable grief over the death of her partner gets another chance when he returns to earth as a ghost.
Director: Anthony Minghella | Stars: Juliet Stevenson, Alan Rickman, Jenny Howe, Carolyn Choa
Votes: 7,320 | Gross: $1.55M
23. Topsy-Turvy (1999)
14A | 160 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
Set in the 1880s, the story of how, during a creative dry spell, the partnership of the legendary musical/theatrical writers Gilbert and Sullivan almost dissolves, before they turn it all around and write the Mikado.
Director: Mike Leigh | Stars: Jim Broadbent, Allan Corduner, Dexter Fletcher, Sukie Smith
Votes: 11,465 | Gross: $6.20M
24. Shadowlands (1993)
PG | 131 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
C.S. Lewis, a world-renowned Christian theologian, writer and professor, leads a passionless life until he meets spirited poet Joy Gresham from the U.S.
Director: Richard Attenborough | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Debra Winger, Julian Fellowes, Roddy Maude-Roxby
Votes: 16,642 | Gross: $25.84M
25. Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
14 | 111 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Young lovers Hero and Claudio, soon to wed, conspire to get verbal sparring partners and confirmed singles Benedick and Beatrice to wed as well.
Director: Kenneth Branagh | Stars: Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Keanu Reeves, Kate Beckinsale
Votes: 44,131 | Gross: $22.55M
26. Naked (1993)
R | 132 min | Comedy, Drama
Parallel tales of two sexually obsessed men, one hurting and annoying women physically and mentally, one wandering around the city talking to strangers and experiencing dimensions of life.
Director: Mike Leigh | Stars: David Thewlis, Lesley Sharp, Katrin Cartlidge, Greg Cruttwell
Votes: 32,966 | Gross: $1.77M
27. GoldenEye (1995)
13+ | 130 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
Years after a friend and fellow 00 agent is killed on a joint mission, a secret space based weapons program known as "GoldenEye" is stolen. James Bond sets out to stop a Russian crime syndicate from using the weapon.
Director: Martin Campbell | Stars: Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, Izabella Scorupco, Famke Janssen
Votes: 233,508 | Gross: $106.60M
28. In the Name of the Father (1993)
R | 133 min | Biography, Drama
A man's coerced confession to an I.R.A. bombing he did not commit results in the imprisonment of his father as well. An English lawyer fights to free them.
Director: Jim Sheridan | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Pete Postlethwaite, Alison Crosbie, Philip King
Votes: 151,535 | Gross: $25.01M
29. Mrs Brown (1997)
PG | 101 min | Biography, Drama, History
When Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert dies, she finds solace in her trusted servant, Mr. John Brown, but their relationship also brings scandal and turmoil.
Director: John Madden | Stars: Judi Dench, Billy Connolly, Geoffrey Palmer, Antony Sher
Votes: 13,138 | Gross: $9.22M
30. East Is East (1999)
14A | 96 min | Comedy, Drama
In early 1970s England, a Pakistani father finds the authority he has previously maintained challenged by his increasingly Anglicized children.
Director: Damien O'Donnell | Stars: Om Puri, Linda Bassett, Jordan Routledge, Archie Panjabi
Votes: 16,790 | Gross: $4.17M
31. The Long Day Closes (1992)
PG | 85 min | Biography, Drama
A young British boy comes of age among his loving family and the austere Catholic Church as he realizes his love of cinema and his homosexuality.
Director: Terence Davies | Stars: Leigh McCormack, Marjorie Yates, Anthony Watson, Nicholas Lamont
Votes: 2,735 | Gross: $0.16M
32. Human Traffic (1999)
R | 99 min | Comedy, Music
Five friends spend one lost weekend in a mix of music, love and club culture.
Director: Justin Kerrigan | Stars: John Simm, Lorraine Pilkington, Shaun Parkes, Nicola Reynolds
Votes: 22,642 | Gross: $0.10M
33. Peter's Friends (1992)
14A | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Six former college friends, with two new friends, gather for a New Year's Eve weekend reunion at a large English countryside manor after ten years to reminisce about the good times now long gone.
Director: Kenneth Branagh | Stars: Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh
Votes: 10,113 | Gross: $4.06M
34. Orlando (1992)
PG | 94 min | Biography, Drama, Fantasy
After Queen Elizabeth I commands him not to grow old, a young nobleman struggles with love and his place in the world.
Director: Sally Potter | Stars: Tilda Swinton, Billy Zane, Quentin Crisp, Jimmy Somerville
Votes: 13,768 | Gross: $5.29M
35. Rob Roy (1995)
14A | 139 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
In 1713 Scotland, Rob Roy MacGregor is wronged by a nobleman and his nephew, becomes an outlaw in search of revenge while fleeing the Redcoats, and faces charges of being a Jacobite.
Director: Michael Caton-Jones | Stars: Liam Neeson, Jessica Lange, John Hurt, Tim Roth
Votes: 39,820 | Gross: $31.60M
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