A classic coming of age movie (if you can get past the disgusting imagery); an adaptation that isn’t dependent on its source, that can stand on its own and still be accessible to those not in the know.
Full review by Chris Pandolfi.
The Playlist:
Those who have no experience with the UK series “The Inbetweeners” will be glad to know that, like this critic, if you have no prior familiarity with the characters from the series (or the MTV spinoff) , then its film spin-off “The Inbetweeners Movie” (or plain old "The Inbetweeners" on its U.S. release, which starts this Friday) will still make perfect sense. Though one does wonder how you get a series that seems to be about the UK’s declining school system, and the sociopath malcontents that somehow are permitted to graduate, on the air. Surely “The Inbetweeners” is a show about the bureaucratic struggles of an overtaxed school board dealing with the foulest, most obnoxious, sex-obsessed deviant jerk teenagers of England’s suburban middle class, which makes the movie, a lighter affair, seem like a brief respite. This must be the case.
The Playlist:
It hit U.K. cinemas last summer and went on to become the third highest grossing film of the year in that territory, with a staggering $71 million take at the domestic box office (placing behind only “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part Two)” and “The King’s Speech” in 2011). It wasn’t a Hollywood blockbuster, but rather the big-screen spin-off of a smutty teen comedy, which had aired just 18 half-hour episodes on a niche British TV Channel, E4. “The Inbetweeners Movie” was a surprise success to say the least, and on September 7th it will be time to see whether U.S. audiences react as positively to the four lads who embark on a holiday filled with “sun, sea, sex, booze, sex, minge, fanny and tits...and booze...and sex.”
Loved the show but the movie was mediocre. And the picture of the american version doesn't inspire confidence.
Edward Westman writes: "Us ‘Brits’ love to eulogize our film output, but our cinematic death knell is without a modicum of doubt the sex comedy. Play With Me, Sex Lives of the Potato Men, Fat Slags, Kevin and Perry Go Large and just about every Carry On film have continually pounded Britain’s credibility in the genre further and further into oblivion than even metaphysically possible. Worse however is the fact that we try too hard, oblivious to the fact that our overseas identity would be better off maintaining our stereotypically prudish image as opposed to our embarrassing attempts at building farce out of fornication. The further misadventures of E4 sitcom teen hellraisers Will, Jay, Neil and Simon don’t attempt to correct this imbalance, but in its favour it does raise some laughs, for the first twenty minutes."
