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Following in the footsteps of South Park, The Simpsons and The Thick of It, The Inbetweeners becomes the latest comedy TV show to be adapted into film. Although these movies were all widely-acknowledged triumphs, with the former delivering on its promise to be ‘bigger, louder and uncut’ and the latter two maintaining their humour over the increased length, such transitions can be problematic (see Kevin and Perry Go Large). But fortunately for fans of the student-favourite sit-com, The Inbetweeners Movie manages it successfully.
The sit-com followed four sixth-form students (Will, Simon, Neil and Jay) and their vain attempts to shed their un-cool image and live the teenage high-life they believe their peers are enjoying. In the movie we join the hapless four having just completed year 13, and upon hearing that Simon’s girlfriend Carly has dumped him, decide to go on holiday to Crete. Here they hope for a fortnight full of booze, girls and, as Jay puts it, ‘decadence’, but naturally things don’t quite go to plan.
The T.V. show worked for being the perfect antidote to the teen-drama Skins, which is disliked by many for its self-important characters and unrealistic glamorisation of teenage life. And sure enough The Inbetweeners Movie features many mishaps viewers will wryly recognise from their own experiences; accidently booking dismal accommodation, running out of money after the first day, searching for ultra-cool clubs yet ending up in empty bars etc.
Despite being three times the length of a usual episode the gag ratio remains impressively high (as does the gross-out ratio, for those who like that kind of thing), with the best moments revolving round the boys making fools of themselves, and Jay’s trademark crudeness; a particularly memorable moment occurs on their first night at Crete, with the boys looking painfully out of place in the street at night, sporting anxiously-excited looks on their faces and truly awful clothes (see video below); another involves them putting into action their simultaneously bizarre and awful dance moves to impress four girls they meet at a bar.
These four girls become the catalyst of the film, as the plot follows their budding romances with the boys. This is where the film lags a bit, as having gotten so used to the boys’ failures, introducing four characters who actually take a liking to them feels a little contrived.
Perhaps the film would have been rewarding for avoiding the boy-meets-girl cliché of the horny-teenagers-on-holiday genre, and emphasising instead the boys’ habit of disaster and the dynamics of their friendship. The sentimental tone of the end may also disappoint those who’ve grown used to and come to expect everything to end in tears for the quartet. But overall, fans of the show will find many laugh-out-loud moments, and enjoy a feel-good sending off to the characters they’ve come to know and painfully sympathise with.
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