I have to confess that I am a relative newcomer to The Inbetweeners which is a comedy series about four teenage boys and their quest to have their wicked way with members of the opposite sex. The series are good fun, it's not necessary to have watched the series in order to enjoy this film. The big question is can they translate this to the big screen. Well, they gave it a bloody good try. . .
The film starts at the end of school for the four main characters, Will (Simon Bird), Simon (Joe Thomas), Jay (James Buckley) and Neil (Blake Harrison). With the Head of Sixth Form, Mr Gilbert (Greg Davies) making it perfectly clear that he is thrilled that they are all leaving and asking them to try 'not to kill anyone' the boys decide to have a summer holiday thanks to an inheritance from the death of Jay's grandfather.
They book a holiday to Maila in Crete and as you would expect, the accommodation is fairly dismal, but undeterred, the boys go into town to spot the local talent and to get drunk. They keep bumping into a group of girls and the film goes on to describe how the relationships develop between the boys and the girls. There is one storyline which is an continuation from the TV series where Simon has been dumped by his girlfriend Carli (Emily Head) and tries to win her back whilst on holiday (she has gone to Malia as well).
The film is fun with all of the main characters providing a number of laughs (more than the established six laughs required to qualify as a comedy). Yes the script is a little lazy, there is very little character development, the storyline can hardly be described as original, some of the jokes were puerile and I saw more genitalia than I would like to see in a film; but the film is light and frothy, doesn't require much thought process and will certainly make you giggle.
There is an undercurrent throughout the film which is that all the main characters come to the realisation that this was probably going to be the last time that they were all going to be together as two members were going to be going off to university and this was quite moving to watch. The film captured the end of teenage-hood and the ascent of adulthood in a really delicate and sensitive way.
Verdict: A fun, frothy summer film with a lovely moving sentiment which belies the crude jokes and smutty actions of the main characters.
The only thing that saved it for me was Will and Alison's relationship. None of the other couples had any real chemistry. Though according to the Kermode rule, I did laugh more than 6 times which is all that matters.
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