Film Review: The Inbetweeners Movie 2 sees the boys get Grindr
The film’s lewd tone is set from the start, when we see the hapless Neil tell his friends all about his favourite new app that’s helped him find loads of new friends (or is it “frieeeeeends”?): Grindr.
The boys are back on the big screen and this time Down Under, as Channel 4’s most socially inept young men get their chance to make amends for what was, on the whole, a disappointing first filmic outing. Fingers crossed for more success this time round, then.
In some ways, it’s rather fitting that the first Inbetweeners movie fell short of the high benchmark set by the TV series. Jay, Simon, Will and Neil have never really excelled at anything – useless with girls, not particularly athletic and, while in the schoolyard setting of those original episodes, hardly a favourite with their teachers. As such, was anyone really expecting them to strike movie-making gold with a trip to one of Europe’s booziest and sleaziest resorts? Probably not.
Time for round two then, and in many ways it’s a case of business as usual. The four chums are now three, with wannabe ladies’ man (and bona fide sex pest) Jay having gone on to sunnier climes. It’s now the year after their A-Levels, and said potty-mouthed member of the group is off on ‘an absolutely mental gap year’ in Australia – a travelling experience that’s now seen as something of a birthright for many a middle class teenager after their A Levels. Hats off for originality; again something you could potentially read as a hilarious indictment of the character himself (always the follower, despite professing to be a leader).
Persuading, with very little effort, his three best buds to come out and join him for a few weeks under the South Pacific sunshine, surrounded by scantily clad girls eager to learn something about themselves before heading off to Uni, and smoke a few spliffs on the beach, it seems like the perfect situation for a quartet of red-blooded lads eager to satisfy their overactive libidos. Of course few things in life run smoothly, and given this entourage’s reputation for insensitivity, foot-in-mouth moments and general self-humiliation, it doesn’t take much to figure out their dreams of a pleasure-filled, stress-free trip are about to be shattered.
Quite how the (not so) mighty will fall this time remains to be seen; a zip-line and blonde dreadlocked guy who’s the epitome of irritating backpacker types are definitely bound to feature. Film buffs will love that the writers have really tried to break into other genres and include a few film parodies along the way. Other than that, though, we’ll let you find out what mischief The Inbetweeners get up to for yourself.
