Finalmente maggiorenni

Don't get me wrong - I loved The Inbetweeners series, which packed a freshness and sparkle that far outshone many of the pallid comedic offerings of the late noughties. In all accounts, sadly, I feel the film failed to capture the magic of the show.

The movie plot positively throbs with potential - horny teens, a chavvy holiday destination, a pot of money from a dead grandparent. What could go wrong? Sadly the characters proved utterly skin-deep, the jokes were sparse and predictable, and the finale an embarrassment with the characters' half-baked romances.

The television series were a warm and funny reflection on the trials of Brit adolescence. This film provides a few banal little holiday vignettes and a poo joke. Disappointing.

Despite this British sitcom's surprisingly far-reaching fan base (not a single seat of the four hundred in my cinema was left unoccupied) I still find myself having to explain the show to family members, casual acquaintances and my favourite movie-loving cab driver on the way home.

So, a quick recap. The premise is simple: we follow four friends on the fringe of social status, somewhere between the 'normal kids' and the 'freaks', as they meander their way through high school and its teenage perils. There's the nerdy but level-headed narrator Will (Simon Bird), selfish relationship-dependent Simon (Joe Thomas), compulsive liar and big-noter Jay (James Buckley) and lovable dimwit Neil (Blake Harrison). The film picks up, naturally, during the last day of school. The boys decide to book a party holiday to Greece to help Simon get over his break-up with Carli, but things get hairy when Simon, who is at the furthest point from being over his ex, spots her on the same trip.

If I had to justify why I loved this film with one sentence, it would be this: at no point does it stray from the formula that made the show so refreshing. The humour is there, as are the scenes of incredible social awkwardness, but this consistency begins with proper characterisation. Every fan of the show has a personal favourite, and should be pleased to hear that their move to the big screen has not coerced creators Beesley and Morris into thinking they should customise the characters to suit a wider audience. By the end of the film, each of the four is in an inherently better position in their life than they were two hours ago, but how they all get there remains entrenched in typical Inbetweeners fashion.

What does this mean exactly? It means that the screenplay puts individual character development on the backburner for most of the film, instead preferring to fill every scene with a truckload of jokes ranging from slapstick, the spoken word and a merciless array of cringe-worthy moments; the kind that have become the niche of the series. In any other genre this could be considered a sour point, but comedies are granted exceptions on the basis that they exist primarily to entertain, not to provide a moral, or indeed, much deep thinking at all. Does each character learn something about their life through their experience in Greece? Sure. Should we expect them to let the rest of their life be guided by these same profound moments of clarity? I doubt it.

Anyone even slightly familiar with the series would be aware of its unrelentingly crude subject matter, which some might interpret as vulgar or even offensive. That's a personal call, and while it doesn't concern my comedic sensibilities in the slightest, I must warn the more politically correct among us that this is not a movie for you. Few social taboos are left undisturbed, and when you couple this with the notion that filmmakers can get away with a lot more on the big screen (a saying that rings especially true for The Inbetweeners), it is recommended that fence-sitters have a long think about how they feel about the series, lest they return home with the unexplained compulsion to take a boiling hot bath and scrub until a little skin comes off.

If I had to make a couple of minor criticisms, I would say that a handful of party clichés are overdone (see: front-on shots of friends walking in slow- motion through a club with big grins on their faces) and that some realism is lost when Simon appears too gullible to be believed (you'll know it when you see it). However, these moments are few and far between, and fail to detract from making this the funniest movie I've seen in a good few years.

*There's nothing I love more than a bit of feedback, good or bad. So drop me a line on jnatsis@iprimus.com.au and let me know what you thought of my review.*

Most people probably know what they are going to get before entering the cinema. So sniffy pseudo intellectuals should probably stay clear. But if you're the sort of person who liked the TV series, doesn't think they are a "chav" by eating McDonalds and likes fart jokes then you will really enjoy this movie. The whole audience laughed out loud on many occasions. No its not a clever plot, but they do manage to purvey a slice in time where we are all making the mistakes we all do as we move from adolescence into adulthood. The primary characters maintain their chemistry (which must only come with having now spent so much time with each other). You don't eat a cheese sandwich expecting a Michelin star, and so it is when watching this movie. Its silly, funny, cringe worthy humour. I really enjoyed it, and I imagine a good many others will too.

The critically acclaimed E4 comedy series returns for its final swansong in the form of an hour and a half film which contains among other things, sun, sex, booze, sea, booze, and, er, well sex. It is essentially an extended episode, instead of rolling this out as a summer or Christmas special under differing circumstances, writers Damon Beesley and Iain Morris who were the primary writers on the television series, have shrewdly decidedly to capitalize on the series' short fame and enter the cinematic market instead. Will's (Simon Bird) narration returns as does the crude jokes and the toilet humour, but isn't that what made the 'Inbetweeners' so hilariously funny? It's a silly, contains a formulaic plot, and stereotypical characters, but what really makes the four boys work, is there childish banter, and sexual optimism that reminds us all of what it was like to be eighteen again.

The last time we saw them on the small-screen, they were finishing up a bonding trip into the woods as each one of them were on a knife edge deciding what they would do for the rest of their lives; university, or the meat-counter at ASDA with a potential promotion up to the check-out in the works? But before they must decide what to do for the rest of their lives (also known as the next five years) they have six weeks to think it over and take the obligatory 'lads holiday' which is an old, wise British tradition for any male who reaches the age of eighteen. The tradition consists of the boys going abroad to a country, which in this case is Malia, with plenty of sun, sea, sand, and bars, and seeing how much tolerance their body has to the effects of copious amounts of alcohol, before attempting to see if this makes them any more (or less) attractive to the fellow British revellers. Premise, nice, simple, and set, and the narrative pretty many rolls it's self out from here.

Again the stars of the show are the characters, with Will's offbeat precocious nature a nice alternative to the foul-mouthed tirades of Jay (James Buckley) which have seemingly got more and more crude as the television show has gone on. Neil (Blake Harrison) on the other hand acts as welcome relief, always guaranteeing to make a laugh out of any innocuous comment he makes, which is especially helpful during the scenes involving the continued romance between Simon (Joe Thomas) and Carly (Emily Head) as it is one of those aspects they should have left to die gracefully with the television series as it seemingly drags on and on with little in the way of a rewarding conclusion. While, Allison (Laura Haddock), provides the romantic interest for Will, and their scenes are somewhat touching as they both seem fish-out-of-water in this world of drinking for twenty hours, eating for two and sleeping for five minutes.

It will almost certainly come away empty handed when the awards season comes sweeping around in Britain, and it might not very favourable with the print and online critics, but it isn't half bad as it never tries to be anything more than an feature-length episode. The jokes are still there, Jay's miraculous lies crop up every now and again, a few old and new faces make welcome cameo's and the boys still get caught up in many embarrassing situations, the majority of which involve the involuntarily showcasing of their genitals. If you look beyond the unoriginal narrative, the one-dimensional primary protagonists, the stereotypical love interests, and the unsophisticated jokes, you will probably enjoy this film for what it is.

Seeing the mixed response this movie got here in the US definitely had me lowering my expectations. I finished the show in two weeks and is now one of my favorite TV comedies ever, so I was seeing this film either way. As it stands, this definitely does the series justice. Oh, it definitely wasn't anything out of the ordinary or unpredictable, but just like the show, it's able to still be completely hilarious and really touching when it comes down to it. The four characters have deeply resonated with me, and the movie just further expands their arcs in mostly successful ways. Even though the movie may not have the freshness the series has many times, it works because it still has the same humor, and the characters are definitely true to themselves. It's a riot!