The Inbetweeners Movie

I'm going on holiday in a fortnight, something which I am greatly looking forward to. The sun, sea and sand will be a welcome break from our oh-so-typical rainy English summer and I can sit back and enjoy the atmosphere of bars, clubs and restaurants in a relaxed and laid-back way. I'll be able to wander the street markets, climb picturesque cliff tops and take in the historic beauty of the cities and towns...wait a second, who am I kidding? If it's anything like The Inbetweeners Movie, I'll be coming home penniless, hungover and most probably with more than one or two unFacebookable photos. But surely that's what a teenage holiday is all about?! Well, according to The Inbetweeners Movie, it is.

The film picks up from where the hit Channel 4 TV series left off, following the four social misfits as they finish school and, before going to uni, head to Crete in search of a lads' holiday to remember. As with the television series, things don't go smoothly for the friends, especially when it comes to Simon getting over his recent break-up and Jay's on-going hunt for a woman. However, it was this continuity which, in a way, jarred with me. As to be expected, the very explicit humour seen in the TV series was continued and, in places was rather funny although the audience I was in seemed to only chuckle now and then, totally unlike (dare I say it) when I saw The Hangover Part 2. However, at times it felt very un-cinematic and could easily have been cut down to an extended TV episode. This doesn't mean that the script was overly weak but I saw no reason for it to be in a film format and I can't help thinking that it is the creators' last effort to squeeze as much revenue from the series as possible. Now I'm not saying that it wasn't funny – it was – but there seemed to be far fewer major laugh-out-loud jokes than in the original series and it struck me that the writers were perhaps running out of material even though putting the boys in a new setting such as Malia should have produced more creative ideas than Lady Gaga in a fancy dress shop. On another level. the plot seemed to drag in places and certain scenes felt disjointed and necessary.

There were, however, many good points about the film. Simon Bird's narration as the overly-mature Will helped to make the antics of the famous four even more cringe-worthy and Jay's (James Buckley) totally crude and less than eloquent observations that the holiday was going to be like “shooting clunge in a barrel” capitalised on the humour which had made the original series so popular. Although Joe Thomas' character Simon became more and more annoying as the film progressed, Neil (played by Blake Harrison) provided several comedic gems including his observations on God and his rather worryingly honed skill of seducing women more than twice his age. The film never gave the audience too much emotion, even with Simon's relationships with Carli and Lucy and, in a way, this was a good thing. People won't want to go and see The Inbetweeners Movie in order to see the boys change as characters into caring, kind and considerate young men but instead they will want to see more of the same behaviour seen in the TV series. The film was never going to be daring in this respect and it is clear that the writers have played it safe (even though some of the content was still very shocking – as a friend of mine pointed out, the 'fat' girl wasn't even that fat!). All in all, the film is worth seeing, even if only to say you've seen the final chapter of The Inbetweeners. The script has just about enough in terms of humour and comedy to keep its head above water but could so easily have been funnier if it had been a TV special. Going to see it is more like sitting in your living room surrounded by total strangers guzzling on popcorn and Ben and Jerry's. Not really the cinema experience I like to pay for. 

Clapperboard Rating: * * *

Super 8

There are some things which I just don't get. People dressing small, rodent-like dogs in clothes. The need that tourists apparently have to bump in to you, wander around aimlessly and walk in the middle of the road because “they're on holiday”. Teenage girls' obsession with Robert Pattinson and, dare I say it, the seemingly religious following that the Star Wars saga has created over the years. I just don't get it. Advertising in cinemas is one of these things. On my recent trip to my local World of Cine to see Super 8 (don't worry I will get to it – just bear with me), I was confused about the advert which came on as the lights dimmed. It showed various close-ups of people's faces laughing, crying, looking concerned etc. in slow motion and at the end, advertised the 'cinema experience' and how we should all go to the cinema. I'm sorry, but isn't this like advertising the benefits of losing weight to a group of people at the local WeightWatchers meeting?! Talk about preaching to the converted...

Anyway, on with my review. Fresh from his directorial success with Star Trek, J. J. Abrams has teamed up with the legendary Steven Spielberg to create Super 8, a film which centres around the efforts of a group of children to make a horror film using their Super 8 camera in late 1970's America. However, whilst filming, they witness a strange train crash which heralds the start of weird and unsettling events in their town which they begin to investigate. I was immediately taken with how much of a throw-back genre film this is and the strong performances given by almost all the characters. It reminded me of Spielberg's earlier works such as The Goonies and had the perfect balance between action, narrative and emotion. All too often, these sort of films focus too much on either spectacle or on soppy, cringe-worthy emotion and in doing so, alienate the audience. In the case of Super 8, I found myself totally accepting the emotional turmoil of Joe (after the loss of his mother) and believing in the (at times) rocky relationship with his father. These moments in the film really gave it substance and showed what an effective storyteller J. J. Abrams is. Furthermore, the relationship between Joe and the schoolgirl crush Alice, was handled with such sensitivity and skill that it provided the perfect juxtaposition to the fighting and threat that ran throughout the film. This relationship provided one of the stand out moments in the film when Alice tries out her zombie acting skills on Joe and embraces him for the first time (sounds weird I know, but just trust me). The way in which this humorous sequence deals with the often serious issue of love is an example of just how good a director and writer Abrams is.

The nostalgic and slightly retro feel of the film fitted perfectly with the setting and characters and made the whole film seem 'nice' and inoffensive, especially with its treatment of violence and aggression. Too often these days action/sci-fi films are filled with blood splattered limbs flying all over the place and characters dying in 'I-wouldn't-even-want-my-mother-in-law-to-die-like-that” fashion, that a film such as Super 8 with its focus on characters rather than blood is a welcome change. The acting, of course, helped in this regard and a stand-out performance by Joel Courtney as Joe has put him on the right track to stardom. The supporting actors were first class and the script offered many comedic one-liners which were delivered with such great effect (especially by Ryan Lee as pyrotechnic maniac Cary). I couldn't review Super 8 without mentioning the 'thing' which threatens the little town in which the children live. Again, bucking the trend, the 'thing' is not seen clearly throughout most of the film which adds to the tension and threat. Even when it is revealed, it remains fairly scary...and far too spider-like for my liking!

From a technical angle, the film is well shot with a focus on facial expressions which again adds to the emotion and makes you care about the characters and their predicaments. The special effects are well executed, if at times sometimes over the top (the train crash scene was the loudest thing I have ever heard) and the plot is well constructed and engaging (something which Spielberg gets right so often). The film's score is composed by Michael Giacchino, who worked with Abrams on Star Trek and on other films such as Up and The Incredibles. His sensitive scoring and rousing themes really do tug at the heartstrings and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up in the final scene (I urge you to listen to the track 'Letting Go'). For the most part, Super 8 is a touching and uplifting film which harks back to the good old days of family action films and has the balance between characterisation and action just right. Michael Bay, take note. 

Clapper Rating: * * * *