YMMV / The Boy Friend

• Adaptation Displacement:
  • If anything, the 1971 film is more known than the musical.
  • Also people don't realise there is a stage sequel called Divorce Me Darling, which is sometimes Double-Billed with The Boyfriend.
• Aluminum Christmas Trees: Younger people who only know of it through its use in an episode of Keeping Up Appearances are often surprised to find out that this play actually exists.
• Americans Hate Tingle: The movie did not make as big a splash in the US Box Office, in-fact the only reason the movie didn't fail was because it had a lower budget and just broke even also not helped by the fact MGM cut 25 minutes of footage.
• Awesome Art: The whole is a fitting tribute to Busby Berkeley musicals and the Art déco era.
• Awesome Music: The entire show has great humming songs like I Could Be Happy with You, Fancy Forgetting and the Title Song.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Well, where to start:
  • The Dream Sequence where Polly imagines the entire cast in a bacchanal, no reason for it and unsurprisingly, it was deleted in the US release.
  • The Room in Bloomsbury goes from the said room to a weird gnome's fantasy that has nothing to do with the context of the song.
  • Some backstage moments just felt like they didn't need to be there. A simple reaction shot could have been told the same as a few minutes.
• Hard-to-Adapt Work: The movie version of The Boyfriend took so long to be made because of the musical's theatrical nature, being a pastiche of real 1920/30 musicals like No No Nanette, the plot is very simple, with a small cast of over-the-top characters that are made for the stage. These flaws present themselves in the movie version with the attempts to make the storyline of the show, the supporting storyline and the backstage drama the main storyline, making a long and dull movie that Ken Russell admitted was harder than any of his controversial movies and Sandy Willson seeing it didn't belong on screen.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: In the movie Twiggy goes on in the lead role as the actress cannot because of a broken leg, a fact was that the actress set to play Polly Browne in the original production, Diana Maddox fell ill before the final dress run and Anne Rogers one of the minor actresses volunteered for the part (having learnt it just in case) and unwillingly became a star on Opening Night.
• Nightmare Fuel: While a lighthearted musical climaxes in a Masked Ball, some of the costumes for the movie can be scary.
• Padding: The movie was infamously cut before the US release and when the footage was restored in 1987 The LA Times noticed this.
• Retroactive Recognition: Peter is played by Brian Murphy, who would later be best known for playing George Roper in Man About the House and George & Mildred.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • Many people who have seen the stage musical and the film have preferred the stage musical because the movie framing sequence can appear mocking the show since most actors are catty and vain.