The Inbetweeners Movie

/ 10

2011.

Watching The Inbetweeners Movie is like farting in a crowded spa.  You know it’s rude, crude, unoriginal, stinks a bit, and will largely go unnoticed.  But you can’t help but grin a little.

Like the television series on which it’s based, The Inbetweeners Movie is a coming-of-age teen comedy about a group of four socially awkward friends – Will the quick-witted nerd; Simon the frustrated emo; Jay the falsely confident douche; and Neil the happy moron.

In the movie, the boys finish high school (a deliberate conclusion to the TV series) and join thousands of other European school-leavers for an end of year holiday in Malia, Crete.  Malia is like Schoolies on the Gold Coast, except no one has ever vomited inside my pillowcase in Malia.

That’s about all you need to know plot-wise.  The film starts with Jay masturbating in a mask and snorkel and ends with Simon shitting his pants.  But never fear you sickos, everything in between is much less conservative.

The Inbetweeners Movie adds very little to the horde of bildungsroman teen comedies that have come before it.  I don’t know what ‘bildungsroman’ means, but it was on Wikipedia so I assume it’s relevant.  Or it might be a German sausage.

It’s not as original or as funny as American Pie or Euro Trip (though it’s much better than American Pie: The Naked Mile).  Nor is it as fresh or creative as most of the Judd Apatow anthology (Superbad, Knocked-Up etc).

But, because it’s British and the Brits invented awkwardness, it is a little different and therefore not entirely forgettable.

InbetweenersFor a start, the boys are so horrendously uncool (I know, glass houses, whatever, shut-up) that you can’t help but feel sorry for them, which is a cheap but effective way of making you like them more.  Their initial dance-floor approach to the first group of girls they encounter is a highlight.

But ultimately, the film’s lifeguard is Will (Simon Bird) – mercifully he’s the lead character and narrator so we see quite a bit of him.  As the confident and rational ‘intellectual’ of the group, Will’s analytical witticisms provide vital relief from the foul-mouthed bravados of his horny friends.

Without him, the movie would just be a normal fart.

About Willy

Willy cried in Little Miss Sunshine and only pretends to like the Godfather movies. He celebrates Jackie Chan's birthday every year.
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