I watched “Educating Rita” last night, the sort of sweet nonsense "class comedy" that Brits love to enjoy. A remake of “My First Lady” if you ask me.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085478/

Michael Caine (Frank) is a university professor. He teaches English and classical literature. Julie Waters (Rita) is a hairdresser who wants to educate herself by taking a literature class on the Open University TV channel. As a part of her weekly in-class requirement she visits Frank in his office.

Rita is a coarse cockney with a heart of gold (yes, that kind of cliché). And Frank is a down and out former poet who finds solace at the bottle while his wife is having an affair behind his back with one of his colleagues.

The funniest scenes in this otherwise by-the-numbers rom-com is the way Frank’s wife’s lover immediately grabs the phone and pretends Frank caught him in the midst of a conversation every time Frank returns home unannounced. Yes, you guessed it right, in one later scene Frank has to tell the posing lover boy that the line was cut off the previous morning because he did not pay the phone bill. The film is full of such scenes that you can see coming from a mile.

Is this a sexist movie? I mean, are there still women enrolling in English literature classes in order to lift themselves up from their dreary working class lives? Can learning about Blake and Milton be a passport to a new and better life, and (in the case of England) a new class? Call me cynical but if you believe that, I’ve got a sub-prime mortgage to sell you.

What I liked best about this film was the way I was rooting for Rita. I'm a sucker for such rags-to-riches stories in general. I really wanted her to make something of herself and find a new life because her working class life was one sad boring affair indeed. (Why does it rain that much over there?)

If you haven’t seen this one, you haven’t missed much. Count your blessings and go get yourself a cup of coffee with the money you've saved.

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