Four socially troubled 18-year-olds from the south of England go on holiday to Malia.Four socially troubled 18-year-olds from the south of England go on holiday to Malia.Four socially troubled 18-year-olds from the south of England go on holiday to Malia.
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While I accept that the series might have provided a silly entertainment to a fan base of sorts,this effort lacks so much in so many departments that I wouldn't even consider it a film.
For anyone unfamiliar with the series,the characters and their respective actors offer absolutely nothing of any value,and neither does the "plot".
It just paints a very grim picture of British youth and deteriorating British culture,forcing the audience to watch the British humour being reduced to a mixture of awkwardness,scatology and frustrated bing-drinking twats desperate to indulge in mindless sex in any shape or form.
A truly horrible thing to watch and waste your time on.
For anyone unfamiliar with the series,the characters and their respective actors offer absolutely nothing of any value,and neither does the "plot".
It just paints a very grim picture of British youth and deteriorating British culture,forcing the audience to watch the British humour being reduced to a mixture of awkwardness,scatology and frustrated bing-drinking twats desperate to indulge in mindless sex in any shape or form.
A truly horrible thing to watch and waste your time on.
Seeing the mixed response this movie got here in the US definitely had me lowering my expectations. I finished the show in two weeks and is now one of my favorite TV comedies ever, so I was seeing this film either way. As it stands, this definitely does the series justice. Oh, it definitely wasn't anything out of the ordinary or unpredictable, but just like the show, it's able to still be completely hilarious and really touching when it comes down to it. The four characters have deeply resonated with me, and the movie just further expands their arcs in mostly successful ways. Even though the movie may not have the freshness the series has many times, it works because it still has the same humor, and the characters are definitely true to themselves. It's a riot!
Don't get me wrong - I loved The Inbetweeners series, which packed a freshness and sparkle that far outshone many of the pallid comedic offerings of the late noughties. In all accounts, sadly, I feel the film failed to capture the magic of the show.
The movie plot positively throbs with potential - horny teens, a chavvy holiday destination, a pot of money from a dead grandparent. What could go wrong? Sadly the characters proved utterly skin-deep, the jokes were sparse and predictable, and the finale an embarrassment with the characters' half-baked romances.
The television series were a warm and funny reflection on the trials of Brit adolescence. This film provides a few banal little holiday vignettes and a poo joke. Disappointing.
The movie plot positively throbs with potential - horny teens, a chavvy holiday destination, a pot of money from a dead grandparent. What could go wrong? Sadly the characters proved utterly skin-deep, the jokes were sparse and predictable, and the finale an embarrassment with the characters' half-baked romances.
The television series were a warm and funny reflection on the trials of Brit adolescence. This film provides a few banal little holiday vignettes and a poo joke. Disappointing.
I really enjoyed the movie, it felt like a follow on from the series and had the same humour and nothing was changed it is just a carry on from the sixth form days.
Despite this British sitcom's surprisingly far-reaching fan base (not a single seat of the four hundred in my cinema was left unoccupied) I still find myself having to explain the show to family members, casual acquaintances and my favourite movie-loving cab driver on the way home.
So, a quick recap. The premise is simple: we follow four friends on the fringe of social status, somewhere between the 'normal kids' and the 'freaks', as they meander their way through high school and its teenage perils. There's the nerdy but level-headed narrator Will (Simon Bird), selfish relationship-dependent Simon (Joe Thomas), compulsive liar and big-noter Jay (James Buckley) and lovable dimwit Neil (Blake Harrison). The film picks up, naturally, during the last day of school. The boys decide to book a party holiday to Greece to help Simon get over his break-up with Carli, but things get hairy when Simon, who is at the furthest point from being over his ex, spots her on the same trip.
If I had to justify why I loved this film with one sentence, it would be this: at no point does it stray from the formula that made the show so refreshing. The humour is there, as are the scenes of incredible social awkwardness, but this consistency begins with proper characterisation. Every fan of the show has a personal favourite, and should be pleased to hear that their move to the big screen has not coerced creators Beesley and Morris into thinking they should customise the characters to suit a wider audience. By the end of the film, each of the four is in an inherently better position in their life than they were two hours ago, but how they all get there remains entrenched in typical Inbetweeners fashion.
What does this mean exactly? It means that the screenplay puts individual character development on the backburner for most of the film, instead preferring to fill every scene with a truckload of jokes ranging from slapstick, the spoken word and a merciless array of cringe-worthy moments; the kind that have become the niche of the series. In any other genre this could be considered a sour point, but comedies are granted exceptions on the basis that they exist primarily to entertain, not to provide a moral, or indeed, much deep thinking at all. Does each character learn something about their life through their experience in Greece? Sure. Should we expect them to let the rest of their life be guided by these same profound moments of clarity? I doubt it.
Anyone even slightly familiar with the series would be aware of its unrelentingly crude subject matter, which some might interpret as vulgar or even offensive. That's a personal call, and while it doesn't concern my comedic sensibilities in the slightest, I must warn the more politically correct among us that this is not a movie for you. Few social taboos are left undisturbed, and when you couple this with the notion that filmmakers can get away with a lot more on the big screen (a saying that rings especially true for The Inbetweeners), it is recommended that fence-sitters have a long think about how they feel about the series, lest they return home with the unexplained compulsion to take a boiling hot bath and scrub until a little skin comes off.
If I had to make a couple of minor criticisms, I would say that a handful of party clichés are overdone (see: front-on shots of friends walking in slow- motion through a club with big grins on their faces) and that some realism is lost when Simon appears too gullible to be believed (you'll know it when you see it). However, these moments are few and far between, and fail to detract from making this the funniest movie I've seen in a good few years.
*There's nothing I love more than a bit of feedback, good or bad. So drop me a line on jnatsis@iprimus.com.au and let me know what you thought of my review.*
So, a quick recap. The premise is simple: we follow four friends on the fringe of social status, somewhere between the 'normal kids' and the 'freaks', as they meander their way through high school and its teenage perils. There's the nerdy but level-headed narrator Will (Simon Bird), selfish relationship-dependent Simon (Joe Thomas), compulsive liar and big-noter Jay (James Buckley) and lovable dimwit Neil (Blake Harrison). The film picks up, naturally, during the last day of school. The boys decide to book a party holiday to Greece to help Simon get over his break-up with Carli, but things get hairy when Simon, who is at the furthest point from being over his ex, spots her on the same trip.
If I had to justify why I loved this film with one sentence, it would be this: at no point does it stray from the formula that made the show so refreshing. The humour is there, as are the scenes of incredible social awkwardness, but this consistency begins with proper characterisation. Every fan of the show has a personal favourite, and should be pleased to hear that their move to the big screen has not coerced creators Beesley and Morris into thinking they should customise the characters to suit a wider audience. By the end of the film, each of the four is in an inherently better position in their life than they were two hours ago, but how they all get there remains entrenched in typical Inbetweeners fashion.
What does this mean exactly? It means that the screenplay puts individual character development on the backburner for most of the film, instead preferring to fill every scene with a truckload of jokes ranging from slapstick, the spoken word and a merciless array of cringe-worthy moments; the kind that have become the niche of the series. In any other genre this could be considered a sour point, but comedies are granted exceptions on the basis that they exist primarily to entertain, not to provide a moral, or indeed, much deep thinking at all. Does each character learn something about their life through their experience in Greece? Sure. Should we expect them to let the rest of their life be guided by these same profound moments of clarity? I doubt it.
Anyone even slightly familiar with the series would be aware of its unrelentingly crude subject matter, which some might interpret as vulgar or even offensive. That's a personal call, and while it doesn't concern my comedic sensibilities in the slightest, I must warn the more politically correct among us that this is not a movie for you. Few social taboos are left undisturbed, and when you couple this with the notion that filmmakers can get away with a lot more on the big screen (a saying that rings especially true for The Inbetweeners), it is recommended that fence-sitters have a long think about how they feel about the series, lest they return home with the unexplained compulsion to take a boiling hot bath and scrub until a little skin comes off.
If I had to make a couple of minor criticisms, I would say that a handful of party clichés are overdone (see: front-on shots of friends walking in slow- motion through a club with big grins on their faces) and that some realism is lost when Simon appears too gullible to be believed (you'll know it when you see it). However, these moments are few and far between, and fail to detract from making this the funniest movie I've seen in a good few years.
*There's nothing I love more than a bit of feedback, good or bad. So drop me a line on jnatsis@iprimus.com.au and let me know what you thought of my review.*
Did you know
- TriviaAnthony Head, who plays Will's dad, is the real-life father of Emily Head, who plays Carli D'Amato.
- GoofsAfter Jay and Simon argue and attempt to fight, Jay walks away and kicks a nearby metal bench. The bench is empty when he kicks it, but in the next zoomed-out shot a man is seen sitting on the bench.
- Quotes
Jay Cartwright: Don't you know about foreign police? They take you up a hill, beat you up and then they bum you!
Neil Sutherland: Yeah. and if they don't kill you, you kill yourself because of the shame of you getting a boner whilst you was being bummed!
- Alternate versionsThere is an extended version with roughly four minutes of extra footage. This includes alternate narration by Will, Will, Simon and Neil going to the toilets before meeting the girls after the dance, Simon and Will spotting Mr Gilbert at a drinking contest, and Simon and Jay fight again after finding out Jay ripped the cruise tickets.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Breakfast: Episode dated 16 August 2011 (2011)
- SoundtracksGimmie Love
Written by Craig Nicholls
Published by Chrysalis Music Ltd.
Performed by The Vines
Courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment Australia Pty Ltd.
Details
Box office
- Budget
- £3,500,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $36,000
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $36,000
- Sep 9, 2012
- Gross worldwide
- $88,823,111
- Runtime1 hour 37 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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