The Inbetweeners 2 Movie Review

As one of the most successful TV series in British television, The Inbetweeners was placed into the realm of films in 2011 after three successful seasons. Three years on and the four lads are retiring for good with “The Inbetweeners 2”.

Inbetweeners 2 sends Will, Simon, Jay and Neil off on holiday again, this time to sunny Australia; not content with their lives at university (and of course influenced by the obligatory overzealous exaggeration from Jay) the lads go to stay in a youth hostel and once again get up to all kinds of wacky shenanigans from a wild water park to the vast desert outback. Will gets separated from the others in a bid to pull a girl from his childhood, Simon finds himself struggling to keep his girlfriend Lucy satisfied and Neil is just as clueless as ever. The film’s plot proceeds just as the previous films and TV episodes did, with Will often taking a moment to sarcastically narrate the proceedings in transition to the next set of jokes. Many of the gags (the best of which I won’t spoil here!) hit brilliantly, whether it’s Jay’s lower lip going all wobbly or Will ending up a laughing stock to everyone around him. All is not perfect though; the final act slows to a crawl and tries to be more serious which doesn’t really fit a film of this genre and there are a few instances where situations are repeated from the original, namely one of the lads being unable to give up a girl. Despite these gripes, the jokes in the first two acts are thrown out with such reckless abandon for the vast majority of the run time.

Characters are always important in any comedy and as ever Simon Bird, James Buckley, Blake Harrison and Joe Thomas are all hilarious, with each character bringing their own comedic talents to the proceedings and playing off each other the way they always have. The other characters aren’t as developed though they do bring a fair bit of laughs to compliment the four protagonists, namely Emily Berrington’s gullible and laid-back performance as Katie. Unfortunately there are also some characters which have been recycled from the original film; Ben (Freddie Stroma) is pretty much the same arrogant pseudo-antagonist who we saw parading around with Carlie in the first film. This does end up having a negative impact on the film’s plot; given that we’ve seen this thread play out before, it’s impact is diminished a fair bit.

If you don’t mind a few too many things being reused from the first film, Inbetweeners 2 will give you just what you’re looking for; it’s just as funny, raunchy and entertaining as the original and if the “biggest opening of 2014” is any evidence to go on, it’s sure to be an immensely popular flick too.

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars