Bar changing the location to the clubber’s holiday paradise of Malia, Crete, there’s nothing particularly original going on in the big screen adaptation of Iain Morris and Damon Beesley’s teenage odyssey. Those looking for an epic tale that thrusts four boys out of an in-between state of adolescence into fully-fledged manhood may as well go and watch Stand by Me again, The Inbetweeners Movie is not a contemplative study on growing up and growing apart. Instead, the writers, director Ben Palmer (who helmed the entire second season of the E4 sitcom) and the series regulars do what they’ve always done best; mercilessly ripping the piss out of each other, the way only best friends can, and making the audience laugh with the finest British gross-out comedy to date.
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| Greece is the word for the guys' holiday |
The four lads, bookish Will (Simon Bird), heartbroken Simon (Joe Thomas), fantasist Jay (James Buckley) and idiot Neil (Blake Harrison), finish up their last days at school and decide, in classic British sitcom style, to make their way to Mediteranian Europe to soak up the “sun, sea, sand, sex, booze and sex.” Of course, this being The Inbetweeners, things never run quite so smoothly. Delayed at the airport, forced to remove their stag-do t-shirts (Pussay Patrol airbrushed out of the trailer) and staying in a shit-hole hotel complete with drowned dog in a well, the guys’ fortunes pick up when they meet four girls in a night club who may just turn out to be perfect for them all along…
In the meantime, the jokes come thick and fast, and while there are some standout moments (Jay’s affection for sliced ham, an entire sequence at a hotel swimming-pool, the guys dancing alone in a nightclub) there really is nothing to rival the meme-inducing brilliance of some of the series’ highlights. In a sense, while the movie is more than good enough for fans, it won’t be making any new friends.
The cast prove game throughout, with Blake Harrison’s Neil the most consistently funny and likeable, either busting moves, bagging grannies or explaining his religious philosophy. But they suffer from a running time that also proves something of a hindrance. There’s a lingering feeling that this comedy is best suited to 25 minutes rather than almost 100, particularly as all the characters’ least likeable traits get increasingly dragged out and pushed to the forefront. Add to this a paint-by-numbers, for early learners, predictability to the plot, and the film feels like it’s caught perfectly in between hilarious and worn out.
A decent end to a series, bowing out with the gentle grace of a giant turd in a bidet.
3½ Likes
Released Nationwide: August 17th
Runtime: 97 Mins
Certificate: 16
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