Hey you young 'uns, listen up! There was once a time when lesbian films were so few and far between that we clamoured around any old thing that had a vaguely Sapphic plotline. We're talking before The L Word, before Samantha got all lesbo on Sex and the City, even before Rebecca Loos snogged Abi Titmuss on Celebrity Love Island.

Bar Girls, which has just been given a new DVD release (with extras!) is a film from those ancient times, and although it might not represent lesbian life as we know it today, it's still a jolly good wheeze.

So here's the plot: it's the mid-90s, we're in Los Angeles, Loretta is a cartoonist (possibly a viable lesbian career choice in those days) who's looking for Ms right in all the wrong places. Cue much soapy action, romantic comedy and an ending that is entirely unsurprising.

It's hard to believe that Bar Girls was one of the major lesbian films of its time, the centrepiece of many a lesbian and gay film festival, but there you go, it just shows how much queer life has changed since then. Or how little; lesbians are still making slightly dodgy films, and dyke life still centres, for many, around the ritual of going out, getting drunk and pulling someone ridiculously unsuitable. Nevertheless, it's impossible not to draw comparisons with The L Word, also set in LA and also populated by characters with big hair. What a difference a decade makes.

If you're looking for an accurate representation of The Lesbian Experience, forget it. If you're in the mood for some fabulously insightful and well-crafted film, don't go picking up this one.

But that's not to say that Bar Girls is a bust.

If you like cheesy dyke films, then this is for you. It's also a great piece of lesbian cinematic history - and shallow and kitsch as hell. Wooden acting? Check. Unlikely scenarios? They're here. Unintentionally funny? Oh yes! And is it worse than Claire of the Moon my unofficial Worst Lesbian Film Ever? That's for you to decide.

The DVD comes with The Making of Bar Girls, the usual behind-the-scenes kind of affair that'll appeal to fans. Oh, and one more thing: watch out for the cameo by Chastity Bono as 'Scorp. Wicked!

Bar Girls
Released: 4 July 2005
Released by: Millivres Multimedia
ASIN: B0009NZ1LG

Get the DVD of the Bar Girls online and save yourself some money to put towards 2 Seconds.