The Inbetweeners Movie

Firstly, lets set something straight.  Some people will like this film because they like the C4/E4 sitcom, whereas some small-minded film critics will hate this film because they did not get a chance to see this film before everyone else.  The distributors did not allow press/preview screenings so one notable film review site gave it a 1-star vicious review.  It does not matter what this reviewer thinks of this film, it does not matter what that reviewer thinks of said movie.  The Inbetweeners Movie is critic-proof, the producers and writers - Iain Morris and Damon Beesley - are hoping that people who liked the show and invested time in the 'shittest boy band ever' to go see them again, and this time pay £7-9 to do so.  They are entrusting the fans to spread the word of mouth, and they will not be disappointed.

Like most British sitcoms that go big screen, it involves our motley crew going on abroad on holiday (a la Kevin and Perry Go Large) to indulge in 'sex, beer, girls, sex, beer, sex, minge, fannny, vag, sex and sex' - to quote Jay (James Buckley)

The film cleverly sets up the Inbetweeners for people who have never seen the television series in the first 15 minutes, giving a basis of all the guys in brief, along with school and the embarassing parents.  Then the holiday starts as they arrive at Gatwick in all pink matching t-shirts with nom de plumes on the back such as Mr.Ladykiller for Neil and Mr. I Fuck Kids for Will, although Mr. I Touch Kids would have been funnier, as all the characters swear enough for us to laugh, we do not have to read a swear word also.

The boys check in to a grotty apartment, there is a joke about a bidet and then they hit the town at the emptiest bar in town, when the boys attempt to dance to entice some girls when talking to them would do the trick.  From there on in, we have situation comedy on the big screen and the film does play like a feature-length special of the sitcom with a fist-fight between friends and new girlfriends ditching them. There is also the threat of the gym rat muscle bound rep who is all chessy smile but no class.  Tellingly, the boys do not stand up to him in a fight (as anticpated), but instead the characters do not break their seal and do something unexpected.  We all know these four cannot fight, so the douche gets his comeuppance another way that saves the boys face and makes the rep look stupid.

Most of the characters remain the same - Will (Simon Bird) is the straight man of the piece though the most un-PC when it comes to a wheelchair bound holidaymaker; Neil (Blake Harrison) gets all the best lines and has some enlightening theories on theology and religion; Jay (Buckley) is gross but is just that guy who says what you think and after initial resentment develops a fondness for the fat bird who is his equal, whilst Simon (Joe Thomas) is the odd one of the group.  He gets a storyline, his girlfriend Carly dumps him, prompting the holiday for the group but he acts like a complete tool when missing her and is downright disrespectful to Lucy, the new girl who actually likes her.  Generic conventions clearly mark out that Carly is bad (blonde, bimbo, user) and Lucy is good (brunette, smart, honest).

The film ends happily enough, with all the boys paired up and genuinely happy.  Although the writers have indicated this may be the last we see of the boys for a few years, as a fan I would be impressed with this send-off.  The gags and laughs come thick and fast in the same method as the sitcom; embarassing scenarios, bad language, gross humour and some nice touches of humanity; when Will is facedown in an ant's nest similar to Jay earlier in the piece, Jay is the one who picks him up and carries him to bed, a moment that Jay would not have done in the sitcom.

And unlike that other critic-proof movie that made shedloads of cash (The Hangover Part 2), this movie actually held my attention an made me laugh out loud on more than just the two occasions that inferior American product did.