The Be All and End All

This sweet and funny low-budget Brit film feels caught between TV cosiness and something with a bit more grit. But it gets by nicely on natural performances and some fantastically filthy talk between its leads, a pair of 15-year-old boys. Josh Bolt is Robbie, who has been diagnosed with a fatal heart condition. He’s stuck on the children’s ward of a Liverpool hospital and ropes his mate Ziggy (Eugene Byrne) into finding him a girl so he can lose his virginity. Teatime favourite Liza Tarbuck over-eggs it as the jolly ward sister – needless to say she belongs to the snug TV side of things. It gets much better as Ziggy goes off on his X-rated mercy mission. He gets his head kicked in at school by a girl he propositions, before trying his luck in the red-light district. Bolt and Byrne are terrific together. Here’s Robbie after getting a ticking off for sneaking out of the ward for a crafty fag: ‘The way I’m feeling, you’re lucky I’m not sucking on a crack pipe.’