Popular reviews

• 

  Review by D Rock ★½

  In the hands of a better director, a better scriptwriter, a better cinematographer, a better male lead, etc. etc, this picture coulda been something. The premise is promising, what with the late-70s London setting and the plot involving a low-rent prostitute and her aimless floater of a boyfriend trying to give themselves a chance at a new life far away. Oh and there's the fact Helen Mirren's in it.

  As it is, though, Mirren can't save Hussy from its illogical plot, uninspired direction, cheesy score and blah visuals. Her opposite is John Shea, essentially the alt-Michael Ontkean and a gormless choice for a lead man. His range is just too limited, he's not at all credible as Mysterious Guy with…

• 

  Review by Michael501 📺 ★½

  1980 In Review - April 
  #11

  Beaty (Dame Helen Mirren) is a prostitute working out of a high-class London cabaret where Emory (John Shea) is a technician. They begin an affair encumbered by her job, his lack of money, and their pasts.

  It’s always nice to see Helen Mirren even if the film is mostly a soft core porn movie with gangster elements. I guess the film has its moments, it’s not particularly good but generally quite watchable, mainly because of Mirren.

• 

  Review by Fint ★★

  I'm not fussy about Hussy.

• 

  Review by Mark Tinta ★★★ 1

  A softcore Showtime "After Hours" favorite from the early '80s, HUSSY somehow gets the Twilight Time Blu-ray treatment, because physical media is dead. Helen Mirren gives this some cred (and don't worry, she still shows everything), and it's not as relentlessly trashy as, say, THE STUD or THE BITCH, with which its often lumped. Like those two Joan Collins potboilers, it does vividly capture London's seedy underbelly at a very specific moment in time, but the structure gets a little uneven and the ending is seriously abrupt. Probably overshooting this by half a star, but bonus points for nostalgia, and Paul Angelis turns in a genuinely scary performance as Mirren's unstable ex.

  Full review to come.

• 

  Review by Adam L ★★½ 1

  I wish this was better, because Helen Mirren is always great and I like the seedy late '70s London milieu. Mirren plays a thirtysomething sex worker in a cabaret. She's been out of the game for a minute, but now she's back in, and she's not sure how much longer she'll last. She has a young son whom she doesn't live with, and whom she'd like to be closer to.

  This is all a good setup for a movie, but Hussy focuses most of its time on John Shea, whose character is written as a starry-eyed naif in love with Mirren's character, but who comes off like a blank-eyed Ivy League prick. He's manipulative and pushy. The kind of guy…

• 

  Review by DrewMcWeeny

  A bit of a mixed bag, but when it's good, it's very good. Matthew Chapman also made STRANGER'S KISS, an odd little film we discussed on '80s ALL OVER, and he's written films like CONSENTING ADULTS and RUNAWAY JURY. This is his first film, and it's a character-driven piece about a sex worker played by Helen Mirren. The first half is more dramatic character study, while the second half turns up the crime thriller elements, and it's better when it is less focused on plot. Mirren gives a strong lead performance, and I'm surprised it isn't better known at this point just because of her work. It's got a great grubby visual style that feels authentic, and it captures the seedy tail end of the '70s in England unsparingly.

• 

  Review by Braden ★★★½

  American werewolf in London minus the werewolf and double the nudity.

• 

  Review by kasarin ★★½

  10th annual Letterboxd Season challenge 2025:
   Week 32: April 21st-27th The Dame Game Week

  Very long for what it is. The relationship building of the first half is destroyed by the boring caper part of Act 3. Mirren is good, of course, but it doesn’t push this one into the recommendations pile

• 

  Review by kynky ★★½

  Birth Year Challenge: Part 1

  46/100

  Oddly enough the film isn't really sleazy enough to capture the darker side of 80's London and it's certainly not got a lot else on offer. At least I picked it up on sale.

• 

  Review by Alice ☀️ ★★

  These stars are for Helen Mirren only
  She’s sexy as hell but otherwise the movie is absolutely flat and devoid of interest

• 

  Review by Chris Underwood ★★★★½

  Much underrated and sadly, little seen seedy gem. Low budget so lots of location shooting, always good, especially in London and if a little rough around the edges, all the better. Helen Mirren gives a gutsy and convincing performance in what is a surprisingly convincing glimpse of the sleazier side of late 70s London. She would play a rather more glossy version of the fancied girl on the edge of the underworld in the following year's Long Good Friday but even in that fine film we do not see a finer performance than here. Matthew Chapman does well with his limited funds and gets decent performances from everyone including the child and surely one of the most menacing bad guys…

• 

  Review by Robert Dayton

  Helen Mirren can make any piece of shit movie watchable. The cabaret scenes (with ridiculous musical numbers) were interesting too, but as soon as both Mirren and those scenes and Mirren disappear to become a leaden thriller in the last half hour, the thrill is gone.