| The Inbetweeners Movie | |
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Official Quad |
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| Directed by | Ben Palmer |
| Produced by | Christopher Young |
| Written by | Damon Beesley Iain Morris |
| Narrated by | Simon Bird |
| Starring | Simon Bird Joe Thomas James Buckley Blake Harrison |
| Music by | Oliver Whelan |
| Cinematography | Ben Wheeler |
| Editing by | William Webb Charlie Fawcett |
| Studio | Film4 Productions Bwark Productions Young Films |
| Distributed by | Entertainment Film Distributors (UK, Theatrical Release) Channel 4 Sales (As 4DVD) (UK, Home Video Release) |
| Release date(s) | 17 August 2011 |
| Running time | 97 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £3.5 million |
| Box office | £45,028,695[1] |
The Inbetweeners Movie is a 2011 British coming of age teen comedy film based on the E4 sitcom The Inbetweeners, written by series creators Damon Beesley and Iain Morris and directed by Ben Palmer. The film follows the misadventures of a group of teenage friends on holiday in Crete after the end of their final year at school together, and currently serves as an ending to the TV series. It stars Simon Bird, Joe Thomas, James Buckley and Blake Harrison.
Contents |
Four teenage boys - Will, Simon, Jay and Neil - have finished their A-levels and are about to leave Rudge Park Comprehensive, much to the relief of Mr. Gilbert, their sarcastic, cynical sixth form tutor. Within their final week of school, however, Jay's grandfather dies, Simon is dumped by his girlfriend Carli and Will discovers that his divorced father has unexpectedly married his much younger mistress. Depressed, the boys decide to go on holiday together and Neil books them on a trip to Malia, Crete.
Their accommodation in Malia is awful. On the way to the bars, the boys encounter a strange youngster named Richard (Theo Barklem-Biggs) who came to Malia for a holiday on his lonesome. While walking past the bars, the boys are tricked into entering a bar which is really empty. The boys are disappointed but however, they meet four girls - Alison, Lucy, Lisa and Jane. Their initial meeting goes less than smoothly- Will chats to Alison and pokes fun at her cliched "Greek waiter boyfriend", Simon bores Lucy to death talking about Carli, Neil has a non-conversation with Lisa, and Jay "gets stuck" with the bubbly, if somewhat overweight Jane. The girls go on their way after Neil pulls two older women, but arrange to meet the boys the next day. Outside the bar, Simon sees Carli across the street. He talks awkwardly with her before being run over by a quad-bike ridden by James, an obnoxious club rep and Carli's new squeeze. Carli reveals she is going to a boat party later in the week, and Simon pledges to meet her there.
The next morning, Will and Simon awaken to the sound of Neil having sex with a middle-aged woman and Jay sleeping face-down in an ants' nest outside. After sobering up, they go to meet the girls by their hotel pool. While there, Jay has his shorts pulled down by a local child and throws him into the pool in retaliation, only to find that the boy cannot swim. At the same time, Will gets into an argument with an angry man whose poolside sun-loungers were 'requisitioned' by the boys, tactlessly pointing out that his disabled daughter 'doesn't even need another chair'. Having publicly humiliated themselves, the boys are quickly ejected from the hotel.
Outside, Jay argues with Simon over his continuing obsession with Carli and they 'fight' in the street. Will and Neil separate the pair and drag them off in different directions. Desperate to buy a ticket for the boat party, Simon attempts to sell his clothes to James, including what he was wearing, but never gets paid for them and is left naked. Meanwhile, Jay angrily tears up two tickets he secretly bought for them as a surprise. He and Neil then go to a nightclub later that night hoping to meet more girls, only to witness a male stripper performing autofellatio on stage. The duo subsequently run into James and his friends, who ridicule and threaten them until they leave.
Later that evening, the four boys meet back at the bar and bury the hatchet. Before long, the girls turn up and suggest that they all go skinny dipping at the local beach. Jane attempts to kiss Jay, but he is embarrassed to be seen with her so she leaves him behind. Will has better luck with Alison until he stumbles across her Greek boyfriend having sex with another woman; Alison then runs off in tears. Lucy and Simon appear to be growing closer until he sees Carli on the beach and leaves Lucy alone in the sea.
Eventually, the boys are able to obtain tickets for the boat party. On board, Carli kisses Simon passionately in order to make James jealous, and Simon realises he is being used. Jay apologises to Jane, and she takes him into the toilets to perform oral sex on him. After finishing, they encounter James, who mocks Jane's weight and tries to extort money from Jay in order to snort cocaine. Jay complies, but gives him a €20 note that had been concealed in his anus as a bribe for 'corrupt foreign police', resulting in James unknowingly walking around with faeces on the end of his nose for the rest of the day (He doesn't seem to notice this as women he tries talking to move away from him). Neil bumps into Richard during the boat party and as he introduces himself to Richard's parents (both senior citizens), Lisa rushes over and tells Richard's mom to back off as she thinks Neil will make a move on her. After they have a conversation about 'ethics', Neil and Lisa decide to be together and celebrate by dry-humping each other.
Meanwhile, Alison hunts out Will and asks to be his girlfriend. He eagerly accepts as Simon finally realises that Lucy, who gave him her ticket so that he could attend the party, is more worthy of his attention than Carli. Simon then attempts to jump off the boat and swim to her on the beach as a grand romantic gesture, but nearly drowns in the process and has to be airlifted to shore. As several paramedics load him into an ambulance, Lucy rushes over to him in concern and the two reconcile, and kiss.
After the boat party is over, the other boys and girls visit Simon in hospital, and once he recovers they all spend the rest of their holiday together as couples. Eventually, the four boys head home to the UK, looking forward to the next stage of their lives. As they meet their families at the airport, their girlfriends exit the same terminal and introduce themselves to the boys' parents as the film ends. In a final scene before the credits, a drunken Mr. Gilbert is seen riding a quad-bike through the streets of Malia in his underwear.
List of cast members:[2]
The official soundtrack consists of:[3]
Songs not on the official soundtrack but featured in the movie:
On its first day of release, The Inbetweeners Movie grossed over £2.5 million in 409 cinemas, outperforming Cowboys and Aliens.[4] The film then went on to set a new record for the most successful opening weekend ever achieved by a comedy film in the UK, overtaking Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and The Hangover Part II after earning £13,200,000. It retained its number 1 position in the UK film charts for 4 weeks, finally being overtaken by Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy on 16 September 2011. As of November 20, 2011, the film's total box office gross is £45,028,695.
The Inbetweeners Movie has received generally positive reviews, holding a 68% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Ian Freer of Empire Magazine gave the film four stars out of five, observing that "Like any holiday, it is episodic and suffers from repetition but this is gag-for-gag the funniest film of the summer and a fitting end to a much-loved series."[5] Steve Rose of The Guardian gave the film three stars out of five, giving particular praise to Simon Bird's performance and arguing that the film "updates the teen summer holiday formula surprisingly entertainingly, considering it doesn't subvert it one iota and the formula was already done previously with Holiday On the Busses, and Kevin & Perry Go Large among others."[6] Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph also gave a positive assessment of the film, praising it as "an enormous hit, a Mamma Mia! for the Hangover demographic."[7] Screen Daily, on the other hand, gave a mixed review, praising the performances of the main cast and proclaiming the film "Britain’s delayed riposte to American Pie," yet simultaneously arguing that it "can’t quite shake off its TV roots, and plot-wise, this is nothing the Greek tourist board would want to advertise."[8] In contrast Margaret Pomeranz from At the Movies called the characters "gormless" and said, "I’m giving this one star really generously".
On December 12, 2011, The Inbetweeners Movie was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK by 4DVD, with the latter version sold as a triple pack containing both formats along with a digital copy of the film. Both versions include a number of special features, such as a making-of documentary, footage from the film's London premiere, various deleted scenes and cast commentaries and a blooper reel.[9] The Blu-ray release also features an extended cut of the film that restores approximately 4 minutes of material omitted from the theatrical release, most notably an additional scene in which Will and Simon encounter a drunken Mr. Gilbert on a Malia stag weekend.
Following its appearance in UK stores, the DVD quickly became a major financial success. Within less than a week, the film became the third fastest-selling British home media release of 2011 after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, with approximately 575,000 copies sold in the first day of its release.[10] By December 17, estimated sales reached one million, resulting in the film displacing the home media release of Paul as one of the five best-selling DVDs of the year in the UK.[11][12]
Asda released the film with a bonus disc consisting of video diaries from the cast.
Although originally intended as an unambiguous ending to the TV series, the unprecedented popularity and box office success of The Inbetweeners Movie has led to speculation over the possibility of a sequel. Anonymous claims that a second film involving the protagonists reuniting four years later for a stag party prior to Neil's wedding is already in the early stages of production have been consistently denied by the cast and crew, with screenwriter Iain Morris commenting on Twitter that he had never heard any discussion of a sequel prior to the aforementioned rumours appearing in an article in the Daily Mirror.[13] All four members of the main cast, however, have expressed a willingness to return for another Inbetweeners film in the future if necessary, with Simon Bird commenting that "I wouldn't rule it out. We'll wait and see."[14]
Producer Christopher Young has also openly recognised the possibility of another film based on the series, claiming that "if there is a sequel it will come from the creative elements... We’ve talked about it. In the short term people are dispersing and doing other things but I’m sure in the medium term a sequel is very possible. It won’t be immediate but it’s definitely not closed." [15]
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