The Inbetweeners 2

Released: 6th August 2014

Directed By: Damon Beesley/Iain Morris

Starring: Simon Bird, Blake Harrison, Joe Thomas, James Buckley

Certificate: 15

Reviewed By: Liam Mcmillen

In the last few years, British TV has had a big influence on British cinema. Within a matter of months, we’ve had The Harry Hill Movie, Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie and Pudsey the Dog: The Movie. These three films started because of the massive success of The Inbetweeners Movie, a film that surprised critics and audiences alike with its massive success. Its sequel, The Inbetweeners 2, pushes the latter films aside and shows that its predecessor wasn’t a fluke.

Since we last saw The Inbetweeners, Will is having a miserable and friend-less time at University, Simon is feeling the pressure to stay committed to his psychopath girlfriend and Neil is… well he’s Neil. The trio get an email from the fourth part of their odd friendship, Jay, who is currently living in Australia apparently as the number one DJ at a club, living in a mansion and having threesomes with the Minogues. Bored with their UK lives, they head out to surprise Jay only to discover his email, unsurprisingly  wasn’t full of facts. Joining a group of pretentious backpackers, they soon discover what it’s really like to go ‘travelling” and find out the real reason why Jay went out to Australia.

If you were a fan of the first movie, or indeed the show, then you will know what to expect when walking into The Inbetweeners 2 and the movie doesn’t do anything new or try anything clever. It just gives you what you want to see – the four lads giving it “bantz” and being embarrassed and humiliated. One of the key things with the script is that it makes you want to see the boys succeed. Just as you wanted them to get with the girls in the first movie, The Inbetweeners 2 wants you to see Will stop acting like a backpacker and join in his mate’s quest. Despite the fact that all four of them are pretty deplorable and thoroughly repugnant, you can’t help but find them likeable. It’s got to the point now where you know these characters inside out, and they’re almost like your friends. You’ll be having so much fun of these four idiots make fools of themselves you won’t even question why certain characters from the previous film are missing or not even mentioned. Even as the movie came to an end, I could have happily watched another adventure with them.

It follows the sequel pattern of trying to outdo its predecessor, but it doesn’t feel forced or unwanted. There is one particular moment involving Will and a race against something rather nasty, but The Inbetweeners 2 doesn’t just resort to fart jokes and crude humour to get its kicks. They feature heavily, but its comedy lies in the absolute embarrassment of its main stars and seeing just how they can become even bigger losers than they already are.

It certainly does feel stodgy in parts and there are aspects that don’t work completely – but your enjoyment of The Inbetweeners 2 will boil down to how much you enjoyed the original series and the last movie. If you weren’t a fan, then this will not be the movie to change your minds. But fans will really enjoy it. It’s hilarious from start to end with some huge belly-laughs and it has enough sweetness and genuine love for the characters in there so that it doesn’t feel like a cheap cash-in project. The cast all do a great job with the material, the story is smart and it will leave you wanting to see a third movie, which is impressive considering I wasn’t particularly excited for this instalment.

Let’s put it another way – it’s a lot better than Mrs. Brown’s Boys D’Movie, The Harry Hill Movie and Pudsey the Dog: The Movie combined.