This sequel to the beloved TV show’s first move to the big screen bears many of the same hallmarks as its predecessor – an early “cinematic” sequence that the telly version could never pull off; the need for a stronger narrative to sustain feature length; and a balance struck between the show’s gentle style of humour with what a movie-going audience requires. But, as acknowledged in our review of the first Inbetweeners movie, the leap from TV to feature film comes with risks, and again they’re not negotiated entirely successfully.
While the Inbetweeners have been able to travel internationally twice now, each time pursuing more exotic varieties of women than back home (with predictably mixed success and high levels of humiliation) the pitiful realities of young male life so successfully portrayed on TV have been diluted as the gang’s adventures become more fanciful.
Not much has changed about the characters though, who are as reliably awful in their own individual ways as ever. As they negotiate their way through backpackers’ Australia there’s the frequency of sexual and scatological jokes you’d expect, but sadly the hit rate of gags is not what it could be – despite the valiant efforts of a waterpark poo sequence, frighteningly realistic prosthetic genitals and awkward public fornication.
Yes, these are all amusing moments, and the Inbetweeners are still the closest thing to a contemporary Caddyshack/Meatballs ensemble. But while fans in the target audience will be impressed, the film fails to deliver on its potential, generating too many polite chuckles as opposed to belly laugh hilarity.
‘The Inbetweeners 2’ Movie Times
