Though it’s still definitely better to watch The Inbetweeners film with a light soul and a winsome gaze, the reality is that it actually works pretty well. It’s consistently funny throughout, and despite a couple of very rare duff jokes and a few cheesy scenes towards the end, it managed to avoid going too large for the cinema and produced a good feature length story for the characters of the Channel 4 series.
One of the best things to say about the film is that it’s at least as funny as the series was, which is to say very funny, so for the fans it is a great continuation of the series, giving team briefcase w@nker a pretty decent send off at the movies.
The setting of Malia in Crete was one of the biggest reasons for any trepidation about the film, with its Benidorm meets Magaluf in Ibiza feel, but actually it makes for a good setting. The club 18-30 holiday vibe works well for the misadventures of Jay, Simon, Will and Neil as they finish off their final year of high school with the summer holiday to end all summer holidays.
With Simon getting chucked by his girlfriend Carly, just as he’s starting to think about their future together, and Will coming to the conclusion that he should have a normal lads holiday before going to work his briefcase to the bone at University, the guys head out for sun, sea, sex, sand, booze, sex, f*nny and sex. However, it’s not all plain sailing and the many close scrapes, shaves, arguments and near beatings provide some of the best comedy moments of the film.
Simon Bird plays the geekish Will to perfection, continuing to be the guy everyone plugs for as he goes toe to toe to win the affections of holiday hottie, Alison (played by Laura Haddock), yet another girl who’s wildly out of his league. Joe Thomas couldn’t be any more in-character as Simon if he really was a love struck teenager hepped up on hormones, the sweltering heat of Malia and more booze than he’s ever consumed before. His two potential love interests, Carly (Emily Head) of old and the new addition of Lucy, played Tamla Kari (Cuckoo), combine to build the craziness of his mad cap actions.
James Buckley takes Jay from the tale telling boy of the series to the eventual relative maturity that he gets to by the end of the film, and Blake Harrison is as Neil as Neil can be, making for a lot of silly gags.
The Inbetweeners film is massively funny, subtle in parts, with a big dose of larger than life gross out humour. Jay doesn’t spend the whole film saying “clunge” and “friends”, there are only a few over the top acting or scenes to contend with and the addition of a new group of girls for the guys to drool over is ace.
The Inbetweeners film review: 3.7/5
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