Wednesday 24 August 2011

The Inbetweeners Movie (2011)


The Inbetweeners is well known for its humour. It’s crude, sexual and, at times, incredibly childish. On paper this TV series should not have worked, but something about the show, be it the characters, the writing, the jokes or storylines, captured the heart of the British public. With its popularity unquestionable it is not entirely unsurprising that this series spawned a film.

To those unfamiliar with The Inbetweeners, the TV show focuses on four teenage boys in Sixth Form trying to cope with being outsiders whilst still trying to integrate themselves in normal society, become men and have sex. So, basically, what most teenage boys do. The show was based around a lot of awkward and gross out comedy which was timed perfectly to attain optimum amusement.

Now that overly brief summary of the series is over let’s look at The Inbetweeners Movie.

The plot involves the four lads, Will (Simon Bird), Simon, (Joe Thomas), Jay (James Buckley) and Neil (Blake Harrison) deciding that the best way to end their stint at Sixth Form is to go on a holiday to Malia, Crete. Simon uses this to get over his ex-girlfriend, Carli (Emily Head), whilst the others use it as a chance to try and get as much sex and booze as possible. From here onwards it is a tale of friendship, coming of age and a quest for clunge.

This acting in this film is fantastic. Anyone who watched the TV series will be glad that the standards of the TV series are kept in this film, and will also be able to understand the characters more, which might be a daunting task for newcomers. This is accompanied by fantastic script-writing, where jokes come thick and fast and as crude as ever.

But surprisingly for a film based upon the TV show we get some honestly heart-warming and touching moments. Characters interact with each other so well, be it between established friends or the people they meet on holiday. This does produce some funny moments, but the moments where it gets seriously do tug at your heartstrings. You know that these guys really care about each other, even though their exterior tells you otherwise.

But the film isn’t just about serious moments. The film is a comedy, and it truly deserves that title. The jokes are hilarious. They remain as crude and sexual as they were in the TV series, but tenfold, producing a film that has you laughing from beginning to end.

The Inbetweeners Movie is a true coming of age story, showing the trials and tribulations of growing up and realising that you will soon no longer be able to leave near each other because of university. It delivers this is an amazing comedic style without faltering and is well worth seeing. Not necessarily an essential cinema film, but essential for almost anyone who is a teenager or young adult and definitely an essential Summer film!

Final Verdict: 9/10

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A Note On Ratings

This system is now defunct as I no longer use ratings. However, this is kept here just for older reviews.

I honestly believe that with a 10-point scale you can't gain everything from a review, however this is an easy way to quickly gauge my feelings as well as useful for comparisons.

Some reviews using the 10-point scale like to have 7 as an average for their reviews, however I prefer to use 5 as an average. The following also shows the colour coding I use:

0: May well be the worst thing ever made. Ever.
1-3: It's not good. At all.
4-6:: It's pretty much average. Not good, but not bad.
7-9: It's pretty good, with hardly any faults.
10: It's damn near perfect and may as well have been made by God!