Movie Review: The Inbetweeners 2

The Inbetweeners 2

This was easily my most anticipated film of the year, I simply love 'The Inbetweeners' and have been a big fan of it since the very beginning, it simply was one of the greatest sitcoms of our generation. I even loved the spin off film which was originally made as a grand finale, I even added it to my hall of fame making it the only comedy film to appear on the list. So as you can imagine I have huge expectations coming into this. What I'm really looking for is another perfect ten performance that will finally send the legendary sitcom off on a high note. This final edition follows the traditional movie logic of the older they get the further they go, and so the boys head off to Australia on a gap year/holiday all for their various reasons, although I can't help but feel it's a very similar premise to the first film.

Unfortunately the similarities don't end there, the plot seems to be just a reworked version of the original film. The setting may have changed but on the inside there really isn't any difference, still the same old gags and the same old characters. In truth I'm a little disappointed, I understand not fixing things when they're not broken in the first place but I was really hoping for at least some development in the period that separated the two films, after all the characters have gone there separate ways and so the same old jokes and predictable storyline just aren't acceptable in my opinion. That's not the only bad thing, the plot is also incredibly weak, the once intricate plots of previous outings have been replaced by a plot that relies on coincidence if anything else, nothing seems to happen for a reason and at times it feels like an improv show, a mile away from the once expertly crafted plot lines in previous outings.

The almost non existent plot means that the constantly entertaining scenes of the original film have been replaced by things that really aren't necessary in a film like this, things like an excess of character development that tries to make you empathize with the characters instead of the usual mockery. This made these parts of the story really dull, the second half just seems to disintegrate into some sort of emotional rollercoaster that may have worked in any other film apart from this. I respect the directors for wanting to go down this route, and don't get me wrong the characters are still played to perfection, but do I really want to be introduced to this now, near the climax of the grand finale? Shouldn't this have been dealt with in previous films.

The cast are still at their brilliant best.

Still, I can't criticize the plot too much, it's not really the essence of a film like this. What I really bought a ticket for was the jokes, and the good news for the hardcore fans is that they're as crass as ever, may I even say a little immature, but that's really the spirit of the film. If you can take away one thing from this film it's the amazing water park sequence which will go down as one of my favorite cinema moments to date, and I can't think of any comedy that has made me laugh as much as those few minutes. But aside from a few Will outbursts and the odd appearance of Mr Gilbert that really is it for the big laughs, the rest is just full of running gags and the characters endlessly saying "bants", which is not the constant stream of great jokes we got from the predecessor. You could almost say the climax came at the wrong moment, it was built up very slowly and once it had finished the film never managed to recover, and just ended up fizzling out with the weak plot.

As expected the film has also been the subject to a lot of criticism, mainly from the usual bunch of people who claim everything is misogynistic. While they are mainly coming from idiots, you could almost forgive them in this film, there are definitely some scenes that I guess could offend some people, if those people where mindless morons who don't understand how comedy works. These borderline offensive jokes are the whole point of the franchise and so essentially giving a serious subtext to an otherwise harmless joke is moronic, people need to realise that they're fictional characters, not real people. I wouldn't care as much but the fact is that men are equally satirized throughout the whole thing, just like the women. Every character is 'mocked' in their own unique way and so I just see this as feminists pitifully trying to attack the movie industry, the fact that more girls are 'mistreated' is because it's told from the perspective of four teenage boys, and so reflects reality like any good comedy should do.

Yep, definitely only misogynistic, there is zero chance that the man on the right is also a stereotypical man presented in a negative way, but of course it's only offensive to women.

Overall I will say I enjoyed this film, a bit disappointing I will admit, but my overall experience was mainly positive. I just don't like the way it feels more like a cash in on a beloved franchise than a fitting end, something that the original never felt like, and that to me was a much greater sendoff. While the second installment certainly has its fair share of laughs, it really doesn't compare to the hilarity of the previous movie or the TV series, and for that reason I would much rather recommend them.

Final Score: 7/10   ***1/2