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the be all and end all
Always on their minds ... The Be All and End All
Always on their minds ... The Be All and End All

The Be All and End All – review

This article is more than 13 years old
A goodhearted story about a boy who wants to have sex before he dies – but is undermined by its own sentimental contrivances, writes Peter Bradshaw

This is a movie with a big heart, and nice performances from Josh Bolt and Eugene Byrne, playing teenage best mates, but for me it somehow never quite got over its sentimental unrealities. Bolt and Byrne play Robbie and Ziggy, two 15-year-olds from Liverpool. Robbie is desperately sick and, from his hospital bed, charges Ziggy with a sacred mission: to find a girl willing to have sex with him, so that he will not die a virgin. It's a poignant story, the more so because the adults must consider if, in their hearts, they agree with Robbie's belief that sex is the be-all and end-all. The film avoids the cop-out ending I feared was coming, but it still felt contrived and implausible.

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