Get Real

Get Real is a British drama set in the provincial town of Basingstoke, where sixteen-year-old Steven Carter is a model student at his school. He has known he is gay since childhood but keeps it hidden from everyone except Linda, his neighbour and closest friend. When he meets John Dixon, a popular athlete expected to go on to a top university, the two begin a relationship. John, however, is unwilling to be open about it, and Steven must weigh his need for honesty against the secrecy John demands. The film was directed by Simon Shore from a screenplay by Patrick Wilde, with Ben Silverstone as Steven, Brad Gorton as John and Charlotte Brittain as Linda.

Made on a budget of about one million dollars, the film took a similar amount at the worldwide box office, a modest return for a small British production. Its standing rests instead on how it has been received. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.5 from roughly 15,000 votes, and on TMDB it has 7 out of 10 from close to 200 votes, both suggesting a favourable audience response, while a critics' rating of 6.5 from 47 reviews indicates a more measured reaction. Get Real remains a notable entry in a run of British films from the late 1990s that dealt directly with gay teenage experience.