There is really not a lot of outputting coming from the Scottish film industry, which in part is why Gregory's Girl is a standout in it. There are two factors that make Gregory's Girl a landmark in Scottish film, one is that it was pretty well received over-seas (Roger Ebert had some nice things to say about it) and two it has a contemporary suburban setting (a community somewhere between Edinburgh and Glasgow) and was not castles and kilts fair like most Scotland based films. The title character of Gregory Underwood (John Gordon Sinclair) is a gangly 16 year old, the middle child of a suburban family of three where the mostly absentee parents are always working. Gregory is the nominal star of his school football (soccer) team which isn't doing very well, the coach (Jake D'Arcy) repeatedly threatens to replace him, but Gregory doesn't take him seriously. Eventually the coach holds open auditions for the team and to everyone's surprise the player who does the best is a girl, Dorothy (Dee Hepburn).
Gregory is instantly smitten with Dorothy and doesn't mind his demotion to goalie because it means he gets to spend a lot of time with her practicing. Dorothy is a very popular girl with lots of suitors and isn't interested in Gregory, but her friend Susan (Clare Grogan, the lead singer for the British group Altered Images) is. Susan, Dorothy and their friends cook up a scheme to get the clueless Gregory and Susan together, which happens at the end. Most of the film that doesn't have to do with Gregory's romantic pursuits is occupied by his interaction with side characters, like his cooking obsessed older brother, wise beyond her years younger sister, the football coach, and various friends. Gregory's Girl deals with various 'high school types' the popular girl, photography nerd etc. as well as the sub-culture of Scottish teendom (dates to the fish and chips shop), and for the most part keeps an even and believable keel. An enjoyable little film somewhere between Napoleon Dynamite and Freaks and Geeks. ***
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