The 17th of August 2011 has been a very important date that was etched in the minds of all teenagers across Britain; the release date for the The Inbetweeners Movie in UK cinemas.
Although a relatively short time span between the end of the TV series and release of the film, E4’s greatest success story has been eagerly anticipated by its fan base who were waiting to see the four suburban scoundrels complete one final adventure, albeit in unfamiliar surroundings.
A movie of firsts, Ben Palmer’s first foray into film, E4’s first original programme to make it to the silver screen and the lead feature film debuts for Will (Simon Bird), Simon (Joe Thomas), Jay (James Buckley) and Neil (Blake Harrison), this film has been touted as being THE biggest UK comedy film in recent memory, but, as ever, has the hype created too much expectation for a film based on modest foundations?
The film begins with the recognizable voice of Will as we start in the familiar quiet suburban surroundings, which were integral to the television series, however we are soon transferred to the wild and raunchy world of student holiday destination Malia; in a perfectly believable plot where the lads are celebrating the end of their school days by doing what all students are doing these days; heading off in search of sun, sea and sex. Financed by the death of Jay’s grandfather, the lads are typically unable to shake off their teenage misfortunes and are booked into a grimy hotel, tricked into attending the only empty club in Malia and being threatened by psychopaths.
The 90 minutes contain everything you would expect from this film; plenty of laugh out loud moments, quite a few awkward and uncomfortable exchanges and one or two all-out gross moments, which are still perversely amusing. It is everything die-hard Inbetweeners fans will hope for and is very in-keeping with the humour and themes from the television series. However, this also contributes to its biggest weakness.
Writers Damon Beesley and Iain Morris stressed in their pre-release media rounds that their aim was to make the flick feel like a 90 minute long film rather than a long feature episode and unfortunately they only achieve in doing the latter. There are very few subplots, and due to the holiday background of the film, the action is fairly repetitive (we see the lads on four or five nights with more or less the same consequences each night), yet on the other hand what the film does do incredibly well is inject heart into the relationships between our four protagonists (mainly between Simon and Jay) and their prospective relationships with their female counterparts Alison (Laura Haddock), Lucy (Tamla Kari), Jane (Lydia Rose Bewley) and Lisa (Jessica Knappett); with the latter offering breather moments between the comedy driven scenes.
They also manage to upgrade the filming techniques from the television series with humorous use of slow-motion; including the lads in the airport with their ‘Pussay Patrol’ holiday t-shirts and their first walk down the Malia strip complete with Cavegirls and dancing Smurfs; and the first scene also opens with the use of a ‘swoop camera’ shot in which we fly around the outer London suburbs before landing in Jay’s bedroom to be greeted by our favourite ‘clunge’ chaser dressed in snorkel mask, rubber gloves and interacting with a Russian adult film star via webcam; which must be one the more bizarre opening scenes for a film in recent memory.
All in all, The Inbetweeners Movie is everything you would expect; it’s incredibly funny at times, gross, immature (in a good way), and even heart-warming in places. Whilst it’s not quite able to shake away its episodic feel, it does fulfil its ultimate ambition of a decent send off for a modern day classic and gives our favourite foursome a fitting farewell.
You can find out what writers Damon Beesley and Iain Morris have to say about the film, plus the official trailer for The Inbetweeners Movie here, and the film’s original teaser trailer here.
