FILM REVIEW: The Inbetweeners Movie

The Inbetweeners Movie
Director: Ben Palmer
Starring: Simon Bird, Joe Thomas, James Buckley and Blake Harrison
½ (out of 5)

Based on the successful TV series of the same name, this is a film about four British lads who have just finished high school and head to Europe on a pre-University holiday with hopes of hedonism, intoxication and lots of sex. It's the sort of comedy that hammers over and over again on teens trying to get laid with juvenile, filthy language, but unfortunately it's not done all that well here.

If you compare it to Superbad, a film with similar characters and similar dialogue, it really is quite mediocre. But still, for every lame joke there is a decent one, and there are even a few great ones. The painfully predictable third act 'love' moments are what really lets the movie down. There's the typical stuff about valuing friendship, going for the girl who's keen on you rather than the one you're keen on, and lowering your standards and rooting a fat chick and not caring about what others think about it(?).

Speaking of the girls, the four main female characters in the film are dreadfully written. They basically take a liking to the male protagonists despite the fact that they constantly act like assholes to them, and are generally awkward, geeky, pasty white teen Poms in a land filled with tanned, muscley Greek sex gods.

For the last 20 minutes or so, I'm sorry to say I was wishing this would just hurry up and finish. What makes things all the more bearable is Simon Bird. He was head and shoulders above everyone else in the film, and not just because he had all the best gags written for him. His comic timing and general demeanour made him consistently hilarious while his three bog-standard idiot mates were much more hit and miss.

Overall, a very average comedy.