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9 out of 9 people found the following review useful: Beautiful Thing meets Halloween meets Romeo and Juliet, 4 August 2002 Author: Havan_IronOak from NYC
This odd movie tells the tale of two gay boys in the UK who witness a murder and are then pursued by the killer who wants to leave no witnesses.Eddie is somewhat effeminate and likes to spend his time with his mother watching old romantic movies on the telly and retouching her roots while she tells him tales of how she was almost a star. Eddie is a dreamer and sometimes even has visions. He also has an abusive Dad who doesn't want a `poofter' for a son.Michael is a beautiful rent boy living on the streets after escaping from a youth detention center. Everyone wants him but it's for only one thing.Somehow the two boys have met up and become best mates. When Eddie decides to run away from home and the abusive father, Michael swears to take care of him. And so the boys begin their adventures, first in gay nightclub called the Fruit Machine and then later in Brighton accompanied by a retiring opera tenor. In Brighton, Eddie visits Wonderland a seaside aquarium with a trained dolphin show. There he meets a girl animal rights advocate and Eddie becomes obsessed with setting the dolphins free. Meanwhile Michael is `paying the rent' with the tenor using the only currency that he has. Unfortunately the killer has followed them to Brighton.There is a very touching love story here between the two boys and I wanted to know more. How did they meet and become friends? What have they said to each other about their mutual attraction? One can intuit a lot from what is shown but there could have been so much more. Is Eddie still a virgin? How much does he know about how Michael supports himself? Has he never made an attempt to get physical with Michael because he knows?This movie seemed to me to be two movies uncomfortably joined into one. The whole `pursued by a killer' plotline seemed to have been grafted onto the main story, perhaps to make it more palatable to the general public and hence more commercial. As far as I'm concerned they needn't have bothered. The story of the relationship between the two boys was more than enough and the sporadic appearance of the killer was a jolting distraction to the story I was really interested in.
7 out of 8 people found the following review useful: A sad fairy tale, 15 February 1999 Author: major-3 from Baden, Austria
Do you remember the line "I depend on the kindness of strangers"? Well, of course it is from Tennessee Williams‚ "A Streetcar Named Desire‘, and sums up the meaning of the whole play. As it does sum up the meaning of this film. It's about the fight of imagination and reality – and again reality wins. Or so it seems.If this film has any flaw it's the crime story woven around its center. The gay-hating killer seems an overused cliché nowadays but at the time of the film's production it was probably more than a symbol.Nevertheless, the film moves – at least me – even a decade after it was made. If not a masterpiece, at least a very, very good film.
5 out of 5 people found the following review useful: "You think you're a man", 12 September 2006 Author: Alan Hickman (afhickman@hotmail.com) from White Hall, AR
The film "Wonderland" (aka "The FruitMachine") is a surprisingly dippy, imaginative romp involving two gay teenaged boys who happen to witness a gangland murder and are forced to flee Liverpool for Brighton. The film takes many inventive turns, several of which involve Eddie's dream lover, a man-dolphin hybrid who actually appears at crucial moments in the film to save Eddie and his partner, Michael. There are many subplots and colorful supporting characters, and the ending, albeit sad, is inevitable. It's worth it if only for the dance sequence at the Fruit Machine, a gay showbar in Liverpool, in which Michael competes for thirty quid. His dance is both erotic and touchingly naive. Both boys, Emile Charles and Tony Forsyth, should have had big careers in film. Apart from one distracting editing lapse that blunts the finale, this is a superior film, in that it refuses to indulge in stereotyping and doesn't condescend to its lead characters.
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful: Classic Coming of Age Movie, 28 August 2002 Author: scottca075 (scottca075@yahoo.com) from Newport Beach, CA
Two gays teens on the run after seeing a brutal murder. It deals with homosexuality, racism, friendship & love.... and handles them all well, what more could ask from a movie! The acting is sincere, the directing well paced. Overall this is a very entertaining movie
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful: The Power of Payne, 13 August 1999 Author: magi-2 from Georgia, USA
After viewing "Silence Like Glass", I was fascinated by the strength of Mr. Payne's performance and wanted to discover his "film roots". The closest I could get to, (until I saw "Privates on Parade"), was "The Fruit Machine", or as its known by me, "Wonderland". Mr. Payne's "Echo" leaves ripples in his wake...
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful: The Fruit Machine, A Ride back to the 80's, 13 November 2005 Author: plumbweiss
Filmed in 1988, this film will be a trip down memory lane for those guys who 'came out' in the 1980's, a time when gay clubs played stock-aitken-waterman, were all neon and mirror-balls and a knock-to-enter door policy.It's a sort of road-movie, as two gay best friends end up on the run after witnessing a murder at their local liverpool gay club, one of them spends his time with his head in the clouds, the other has to secretly hustle men (and women) to earn them money to survive.If you're a romantic, the film will hit the spot, the two leads are played with a charming naiveté and the villains are pure evil camp. Good music, Robbie Coltrane in a frock, good acting, atmosphere and direction. My only gripe is that my VHS copy combined with what appears to be 16mm cine gives a rather grainy picture.
0 out of 2 people found the following review useful: Adrian Cleave Would Have Done It Better, 19 September 2000 Author: katya-16 from Nicosia, Cyprus
Although the story behind the two run away gay teenagers was a good idea I must strongly point out that the acting could have been far better.One person for the role of Eddie could be Adrian Cleave who is known for his work in the play "the decider" which won staggering reviews in London.The story does have a sad ending although the film makers could have added more depth to the assassin who chases the boys through out the film.
5 out of 15 people found the following review useful: Stupid and boring, 27 April 2000 Author: liderc from Austria
The idea of the story is not bad, but the use of stereotypes (Edie behaves very effeminate, the people in the man only bar too) only makes this movie painful to watch. The only character I liked was Michael, since he behaves like a normal boy (and is sexy too...)
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