Directors: Damon Beesley and Iain Morris
Screenplay: Damon Beesley and Iain Morris, based on the TV series The Inbetweeners created by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris
Starring: Simon Bird, James Buckley, Blake Harrison, Joe Thomas, Elizabeth Berrington, Tamla Kari
Running Time: 96 minutes
Genre: Comedy
Nerdy university student Will (Bird), unhappily partnered university student Simon (Thomas) and dim-witted bank employee Neil (Harrison) decide to take a holiday to Australia to meet their friend Jay (Buckley), who boasts that he is a millionaire superstar DJ in Sidney. When they get there though, they quickly realise that Jay has vastly overstated the reality: He is a toilet attendant in a Sidney nightclub and lives in a tent in his uncle's backyard. However, when Will chances upon Katie (Berrington), who he knows from his private school days, the lads join her and her backpacking friends. Of course, everything soon ends in a series humiliating disasters.
This second big-screen outing from the successful British TV sitcom, The Inbetweeners (2008 - 2010), takes the basic structure of the successful first film, and expands it. The Inbetweeners Movie (2011) took the main characters from suburban England to Malia, and subjected them to the usual gross-out hilarity. In this film, written and directed by series creators Iain Morris and Damon Beesley, making their directorial debuts, the locations are more far-flung and exotic, and the gross-out gags are grosser than ever. It is very, very funny in places, though it is not as successful as the first film or the television series, which at it's best was a masterclass in cringe comedy, partly because this film feels almost cartoonish compared to the TV series, which, while obviously exaggerated, always felt like it had a sense of reality. This is very much a male oriented film. The main female characters seem to be there to either be lusted after by the guys, or to be venomous harridans. It is also unlikely to do much for Anglo-Australian relations. It does have some heart to it, although it seems to lack the genuine sympathy for the characters that the TV series has at it's best. It's unlikely to win many new fans, but for those already fond of the antics of Jay, Will, Neil and Simon, there is plenty to enjoy, because it really is very funny, and there is a real chemistry between the four leads.
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