"Love me gender, love me true" reads the press-kit's tag line, and Different For Girls lives up to it - it's a contemporary, London-based love story with a difference. Back in the '70s, Karl (Steven Mackintosh) and Prentice (Rupert Graves) were best friends. Twenty years down the line they meet up, but a few dramatic changes have taken place, the biggest being that Karl has had a sex change and is now calling himself Kim.
Naturally, a romance is ignited, causing both parties emotional confusion. But, although Different For Girls could easily have become a yawnsome and politically correct exploration of transexuality, director Richard Spence's unfussy, naturalistic directing supplies plenty of credibility. This allows Tony Marchant's blunt and perceptive dialogue to slot neatly into each scene. That said, it's Graves and Mackintosh's on-screen chemistry that impresses the most, making the film an engrossing and gently moving experience.
