In a vintage year of big screen comedy, it’s been all about America so far; as they’ve pumped out successful release after successful release, with barely a murmur coming out of Britain (Mrs. Brown’s Boys D’Movie doesn’t count since it’s both Irish, and disgustingly bad); so it’s time for Channel 4’s uber-successful foursome of vulgarity-spouting unlucky lads to make a return to the big screen with The Inbetweeners 2! Is it another successful cinema outing or has the joke run thin finally?
The Inbetweeners 2 picks up some time after the original movie ends. Whilst Neil (Blake Harrison, ITV’s Edge Of Heaven) is still in a dead end job, Will (Simon Bird, Channel 4’s Friday Night Dinner) is seen as a friendless freak at his university and Simon (Joe Thomas, Channel 4’s Fresh Meat) is under the thumb of a psychopathic girlfriend who cuts up all his clothes. Jay (James Buckley, BBC’s Rock & Chips) on the other hand is living it up in Sydney, Australia on the other side of the world, proclaiming himself to be a superstar DJ. With nothing to lose, on Easter break, the other three go over to live it up with Jay and when his usual rubbish spouting comes to the fore, the four decide to go on a spot of backpacking in Byron Bay & Outback exploration and, as usual, end up creating chaos wherever they go.
It’s part of the humour sure, but good lord you want to give the boys a slap by now and tell them to sort it out. Will is still oblivious when he’s the butt of all jokes and no-one wants him around. Despite growing a set, and having a deserved pop at preppy backpacker sods who live off a trust fund, and Bird doing a great job in the role, there’s no sign of him developing character-wise. I honestly do not get why Thomas’ Simon continues to play along with his oddly turned nasty bitch girlfriend; she sets fire to his games console for god’s sake, and he puts up with it without growing a spine; his character arc is non-existent and fruitless, requiring some poorly executed set-up in having a resolution, learning nothing. Shame since Thomas gets over Simon as the most likable one of the four.
Jay’s constant lying in bigging up himself has grown so tiresome by now, there was barely an eyebrow made in his opening e-mail to the lads back home. Filled with Ozzie cameos galore in a warped yet brutally funny dream sequence, it was this and the constant piss takes and put downs which finally lost me. The joke is that Jay does all this because any form of sentiment or self reflective view on himself destroys him, yet with all the misogyny flying about it’s time he grew up finally, despite Buckley’s fine depiction, and him being the highlight of the cast. Harrison’s Neil doesn’t get much as the remit of his character is the thick one, yet the ‘dolphin diet’ scene is wonderfully catastrophic in it’s intelligence.
The jokes and comedy overall are a mixed bag; on one hand, after three TV series and a first movie, the somewhat fresh and original vulgarity has run it’s course by now, and it feels like they’re repeating lines for the sake of it now for familiarity. There is always some enjoyment seeing our boys being totally out of their element against whatever they’re up against, despite giving it the big one before hand. The sick humour involving numerous private parts body discharges, barring one exception, barely raise an eyebrow. I’m so numb to what made The Inbetweeners original by now, I should be forgiven for forgetting what made it great in the first place, and the lowering to consent with current youth terms like ‘banter’ makes it feel dated already. Whilst Jay and Neil listing off terms like Archbishop Of Banterbury and the like are hilarious to some of the uninitiated, I’m sure I heard those a good couple of years ago. There’s a horrible reliance on using terms which are new and fresh to stay hip and up to date with the younger generation and whilst not the most criminal, The Inbetweeners 2 deserves it’s day in court for referencing selfies and the like just ’cause.
Oddly enough though, about 40 minutes in there are a few scenes in sequence which really capture the spirit of the show again and make this second trip to the big screen worth while. The boys are invited by one of Will’s friends to sit in on a hostel campfire and we end up hearing one of the best comedic displays of singing in a movie in a long time in utter cringe brilliance. Surprised they managed to get a new trick out of an old dog, the film follows up with a trip to a water park which goes as well as you expect with Dolphin diets, mistaken accusations of paedophilia from literal Ozzies, and a gross-out scene which turns into a horror movie parody. It’s this section of the film which feels like an episode of the show within the film and isn’t too long or too short; it’s the right length and paced well, with new jokes and gags or twists on old ones and I’m more than happy with Will’s gross out antics resembling a classic horror movie ‘clearing the room’ moment. Furthermore, there’s a downplayed but sparklingly rampant infidelity obsessed wife who lights up a joint and goes topless in front of her husband, which is a brilliant play on older people who go travelling. Throw in some hysterical and admittedly pleasing epilogues to our foursome’s adventures, on top of a garish Peter Andre typical backpacking-style car, and there’s more than enough in The Inbetweeners 2‘s tank to push it into better than average territory.
For a film about backpacking around the world, it does only an okay job. I want to hold it to a higher standard since I have been ‘packing that part of the world and it meets most of the requirements; the standout campfire scene evokes good times with Goon wine (basically the stuff at the bottom of the vat) leading to messy antics with friends and bedrooms activities. The dialogue alone about offering to get a hotel room the next night hit particularly close to home in a good way. There was plenty of warm fuzzy memories from meeting people in hostels, and certain types you could meet, but there simply wasn’t enough of it, and it’s a very English orientated view of backpacking when it’s an international thing. A mix of different countries would be nice, with the main antagonist (a douchey, long-hair-in-braids, guitar-playing, girl-magnet) being ripe for another country representation. Whilst admittedly the boys say they’re not keen in going to see the sights of Australia’s east coast, a few cute gags of them going to one and being unimpressed whilst, I dunno, becoming obsessed with a kangaroo instead wouldn’t go amiss.
Whilst not the most important thing for a comedy film, the plot is rather weak. There’s little set up in going to the places we visit, and they’re not interesting enough to stop your mind from wondering on a walkabout. Thinking about it, the whole ‘Inbetweeners in Australia’ gimmick in this is largely wasted; barring Jay’s bollocks fantasy sequence at the start, there’s not much to suggest it’s set there. The plot structure follows the same of the previous film with there being a minor falling out before the boys get back together again; fine for character development, poor for artificial drama. The film winds up with Jay realising his former girlfriend from the end of the last film is in Australia too so of course he has to go after her. This leads to a long, drawn out death sequence in the Outback which whilst having some laughs dies a death itself through obvious padding, and there’s not way the Inbetweeners group are being bumped off at all. Considering they have to think about wrapping this set of characters up now and the cast not being too keen on continuing on with it, give them all a happy ending finally to go out on at last. Whilst the first film was great for drawing a line underneath it all with each of the four lads scoring with a girl, this feels like leaving it open to come back to it.
So, not as good or as bad of a sequel as you may think, with a mountainous peak in the middle featuring a fantastic comedy view but there’s quite the trek to get up to that and get back down. The charm is just about there, and that goes a long way, but the same old schtick wore very thin for our hapless quad of young Englishmen and you have to wonder what’s next for them after The Inbetweeners 2? Another film set in their mid twenties does not sound appealing at all. Quit while the going is still alright at least you Ozzie wankers!
