Back in 2011, all it took was a snorkel and a packet of ham to extinguish any fears that The Inbetweeners Movie would struggle to match the hilarity of the television series. This time out for The Inbetweeners 2, it’s a pair of balls and an excitable bulldog that sets the tone and a gloriously puerile one at that.
We all like to pretend that we’re smarter than our parts sometimes – I pick up a copy of War & Peace and sit around Costa for two hours to keep up appearances quite often. So, in between superheroes and disaster films, popping your brain out and leaving it on ice for The Inbetweeners 2 could be just the thing to bring your inflated sense of self under control. You can have no delusions of grandeur when you’re watching shit fly into someone’s face.
Having gone their separate ways to go to University, television’s most ragtag bunch of young idiots come together again for a holiday to Australia in the hopes of finding Jay, now a supposed superstar DJ.
The jokes come in thick and fast with them hitting the mark more often than not. When they do fail to strike a chord, there’s always a reliable wank innuendo around the corner to put proceedings back on an even keel. The stoniest faces will find it hard to resist a laugh during Will’s serenading of hipster backpacker Katie (an insufferable character, might I add) or to not titter during one of Simon’s ‘thinking’ segments. Interestingly, more time has been allowed to the ridiculously-gelled one in this sequel and he’s the most likeable of the bunch, having found himself a set of balls and a less whiny voice.
Giving more screen time to Simon meant that Jay’s one-liners and extreme bullshit take a backseat and aside from an over-the-top pastiche of The Wolf of War Street and Scarface near the beginning of the film, he doesn’t have that many memorable moments. Neil is as reliably daft and vulgar as series fans have grown to love him for and his mirage sequence is one of the film’s most titillating.
It’s too easy to poke holes in a film like this but to do so would be a waste of time. Instead, gather a friendly rabble and go and see a guilt-free film that’s a refreshing antidote to some of the heavier fare in this summer’s box office.
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