ANDREW AND JEREMY GET MARRIED Directed by Don Boyd
Certificate 15

WHAT could be interesting about a gay marriage, as if we all didn’t know gay couples who are already married? Just when you think the whole topic couldn’t possibly have anything to offer, along comes this delightful and fascinating documentary.
Director Don Boyd (The Girl With Brains In Her Feet) has made an unusually watchable documentary about two men who are not only unlikely friends, but even more unlikely partners.
Made in a bitty, homespun manner, the story examines how a 49-year-old south-Londoner ends up with an upper-middle class bloke in Chelsea.
Boyd met the couple, the working-class, ex-heroin addict 49-year-old Andrew and the patrician, erudite 69 year-old Jeremy, at a dinner party at the house of writer Hanif Kureishi (pictured, who plays himself in the movie) – in the summer of 2003. Jeremy, a loveable, warm man of letters, had been friends with Kureishi’s father, and he played an instrumental role in stimulating the teenage Kureishi to start writing. This is not, however, work on the shock of the new; the audience won’t feel jerked out of place and projected into some other weird world which they may or may not understand.
This charming film covers about a year in their lives, where they go, their friends and, of course, the plan for the celebration itself. After only five years as a couple, they decide to get married in city hall. Even though the two lovebirds are men, what this alluring tale shows is the truth of love and attraction how it affects absolutely everyone – its moments of joy and discovery, its minutes of boredom, pensive times and bad feelings as well as the good.
While the film doesn’t add much to what one may know about love, it is still reassuring and quite pleasant to watch: both Andrew and Jeremy really do seem to love each other. Love is always good and it is especially good in this heartfelt and funny documentary.