The Inbetweeners Movie. Need I say more? If you have ever seen The Inbetweeners on TV, then you know exactly what to expect from this coming of age comedy. The trademark sex jokes and awkward social interactions are all here, just as you’d expect. Unfortunately, the film also shares many of the same flaws that the show itself does, for example: repetition, unintelligent (albeit funny) humour and a sub-par script.
Unlike the TV show, which takes place at school, the movie takes place on a holiday in Malia. A holiday which, according to Jay, will include ‘sex, booze and... sex!’ among other things I cannot bring myself to type. Malia makes for a wonderful location for the film to be set, separating The Inbetweeners Movie from The Inbetweeners TV show and helping it to become its own separate project. We see enough of a variety of Malia’s areas to really get a feel for the place. The clubs are loud, but not obnoxiously so. While the film does try to portray the boys as having a bad time, it cannot hide the beauty of some of the fantastic locations, nor does it try to.
The films plot and humour both move at a fast pace, which suits the movie’s style and atmosphere, but the pacing also causes repetition in both humour and plot elements. Many of the jokes you will have heard before on the show, even if it is in a different context. There’s also not much variation, with most of the jokes being extremely crude. Despite this, a lot of the jokes will cause laughter; a couple in particular had me splitting my sides. It sure as hell isn’t intelligent, but it is damn funny.
The plot isn’t what you watch The Inbetweeners for, but I have to talk about it. While the coming of age story about four boys trying to get laid is both satisfying and surprisingly heart-warming at times, there is a lot of repetition, which apparently is the film’s main problem. I felt like many scenes repeated themselves, or that some of the lines of dialogue gave me a feeling of déjà vu.
At the end of the day, we end up with a movie that, while satisfying, really requires you to switch off your mind. There is no thought needed to understand this movie, which is both its greatest success and its downfall. Don’t get me wrong, this is the greatest work of mindless cinema since... well, The Inbetweeners Show, just don’t expect to take anything away from this film.
3/5
Hello sir. I found your post on the Metacritic best/worst 2011 post, and was intrigued by what you said. As an aspiring critic of 13, I am very glad to see other critics of young age trying to make it big in the world of telling crap movies off. I am at www.peppersperspectives.blogspot.com and would love to hear from you.
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