THE INBETWEENERS Review
By: RAMA
How does the film compare to the Hit TV series? RAMA is here to let us know/
I suppose the Brit-esque American Pie is the right way to describe THE INBETWEENERS and when I chatted with co-scribe Iain Morris, he seemed to be ok with that comparison. THE INBETWEENERS is non-stop laugh riot, this is by far the funniest R-rated comedy I’ve seen this year, it’s raunchy, it’s blunt, it’s brutally honest, and I’m not even familiar with the Brit TV series that it originated from.
If Jimbo, Stifler, Oz, and Kev were Brits, they’d be THE INBETWEENERS..
Graduation just wouldn’t be complete without an unchaperoned, uninhibited and unforgettable island holiday with your pals. At least that’s what recent grads Will McKenzie (Simon Bird), Jay Cartwright (James Buckley), Simon Cooper (Joe Thomas) and Neil Sutherland (Blake Harrison) think when they book a two-week getaway to a notorious international hotspot on the isle of Crete. The lads hit the resort’s infamous club strip and try to join in the legendary party scene with humiliating-and sidesplitting-results. Surrounded by scantily clad hotties, outrageous escapades and a plethora of bodily fluids, clueless intellectual Will, love-struck puppy Simon, chronic masturbator Jay and dimwitted cougar-bait Neil go on “Pussay Patrol” hoping to find high times and, more importantly, wild sex in one of Europe’s craziest vacation spots. Instead, they naively blunder from one mortifying experience to another, managing to sabotage every chance they get to fulfill their dreams. Convinced that the solution to all of their problems lies in a weekend party-boat excursion, but without the funds or connections to get tickets to the once-in-a-lifetime blowout, they seemed doomed to once again be left outside the action in this raucous and raunchy coming-of-age comedy based on the hit UK television series created by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris.
There’s a couple of challenges that come from THE INBETWEENERS. The movie does cater mostly to the audience who are already familiar with the four leads, Will, Jay, Neil, and Simon but I don’t think it goes so far as to alienate new audience who just want to have a great time at the theaters.
Yes the humor and the jokes are often testosterone centric, about boys trying to get laid, which is the old formula in any party teen film, sex is all they could think about. But the movie also has 4 excellent female characters that are there to kind of force the boys to consider more or to think more than just sex, the female characters, in my opinion, represent a way or a manner to say, ‘down boy!’ because if you want to be successful with the ladies, you need to hit the right notes and that girls aren’t just for shagging.
And vice versa, I think screenwriting team Damon Beesley and Iain Morris did a marvelous job of showing us why exactly the 4 boys feel like they desperately need to get laid, whether it was because of a broken heart thus perhaps this could somehow serve as some kind of ‘medicine’, to get over that ex, whether it be because of insecurity, trying too hard to prove that he’s some kind of God’s gift to women everywhere, everybody’s got their stuff and the film does a good job of expressing that without losing all the comedic elements. The comedy itself is full of surprises. Just when you think a situation might get romantic or a light bulb might switch on in the brains of the characters, they’d suddenly do the complete opposite, to remind us that boys will be boys or that sometimes they just need to get slapped in the head before a realization sinks in.
The second challenge is trying to get the jokes and the humor across the Atlantic to stateside audience. Some of the humor might get lost in Brit slang and phrases. I admit, there were times when I watched the screening where I felt like I needed to press replay and listen closely to what the characters were saying, otherwise I’d entirely miss whatever the heck that was going on, but it’s not like it would help because again, it’s inevitable that the film would have lines that American audience wouldn’t get and that’s ok, just as long as the story and the characters are relatable for the demographic age audience and they are.
Whereas American comedies sometimes can only work within the boundaries set by censorship and ratings folks, Brit comedies, especially THE INBETWEENERS, knows no boundaries, so prepare yourself for some very creative, very original R-rated humor that would crack you up so bad, you wouldn’t believe what you’re seeing.
THE INBETWEENERS is a party teen film where the teens return in a much better state than when they left for vacation and I hope it leaves a good impression on you too, when the end credits roll.
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