In 2008, a British TV series set in the South of England near London was aired. It stared Simon Bird (Friday night dinner) as Will McKenzie. A smart and pompous teen entering lower sixth (aged 17-18 as standard). Due to his parents divorce he is forced to go to a state (free) school as appose to a public school which he is used to.
Whilst there, he makes friends Simon Cooper (Joe Thomas – Fresh Meat) who is an angry teen obsessed with a girl he has a crush on, Jay Cartwright (James Buckley – Charlie Countryman) a teen obsessed with sex, acting as if he’s always getting some but never does (along with other lies he tells to big himself up) and Neil Sutherland (Blake Harrison – Big Bad World) who is very unschooled – you might say.
The had 3 very successful seasons featuring 6 episodes each (standard for UK shows). In no time at all it became one of the biggest shows at its time, before the characters had to go to university or take up jobs to earn a living.
A year after it ended the Inbetweeners movie came out. Just like the TV series, it too was packed full of adult comedy, however, people generally prefare the TV series to the film.
In 2012, America made their own version of the Inbetweeners, packed with the best short jokes of the Inbetweeners original TV series. However, it’s success was not as good as people noticed that jokes were shoved in there for the sake of comedy and nothing else. This did however increase views to the original TV series where people appreciated there was an actual story.

In the first movie, the four protagonists had a lads holiday in Malia. Other characters still featured and the gang was still up to the same old hi-jinks, and there were still others who could easily bully and manipulate the group. However, due to the script it meant that there was a lack of appearance of the characters parents and teachers which often added allot of comedy to the story. All in all, it’s a fair piece of comedy but is not true to the level of humor as the original TV series.

The Inbetweeners 2                 [SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!]

The plot

The Inbetweens second movie starts off with Neil and Simon visiting Will at his university for the weekend. They thought it was going to be a good laugh but were sadly disappointed. Neil then receives an e-mail from Jay who is currently working in Australia, claiming to be one of the greatest DJ’s and being a playboy living in a mansion. The three of them then decide that their time is best suited giving a surprise visit to Jay in Australia. However, when they arrive they soon realize that in fact he works in a toilet in a night club and lives in a tent.

Whilst they visit him Will runs into someone he went to junior school with who’s taking a spiritual journey with other hikers. Will, falling completely in love with her convinces his friends to follow her to the other side of Australia and hang with her friends. Whilst doing this, it becomes apparent that Jay actually came to Australia in the hope that he would meet up with an old flame that he’s fallen completely in love with. At the same time, Simon attempts to break up with his sociopathic girl friend who he made the acquaintance of in the first film. Whilst doing this, he accidentally proposes to her and she accepts.

Jay then learns that his ex-girlfriend is located in the middle of nowhere and heads off there to find her. However not all the group are willing to go with him, as Will is adornment that this old school friend of his wants to sleep with him, and thus the group leave him. Given some time, Will would go on to insult the group realizing that they’re all mental and chases after his friends. When he catches up with them, their car runs out of fuel in the middle of the desert and the group nearly die of dehydration before being saved by Jay’s ex-girlfriend and her colleagues. The group are also broadcasted on English News for nearly dying abroad meaning that loved one’s trek across the globe to see them. On that note, Jay doesn’t reignite that old flame and it turns out that Simon’s fiancee was cheating on him the entire time and thus their relationship ends, much to his pleasure. The group then decides that they’ll spend the rest of their Easter holiday travelling. The End.

The review

The inbetweeners 2 is no doubt one of the funniest films of the year. It’s inappropriate, outrageous and also plausible. These four characters are the worst types of people that we know in our day to day lives which raises the question, how do four ordinary people get up to so many escapades. The characters were a wise decision for like every successful sit com the characters have a very dysfunctional relationship, and this is especially seen in this film.

It was laugh out loud funny, a string of words I rarely use (at the risk of sounding cliche). The film starts off with lite entertainment and quickly accelerates in comedy. Whats more it also maintains this pace. It’s certainly better than the first in every way and potentially better than the series. It’s so funny that once could cry with laughter. It steps up the childish and immature behavior as well as the adult humor.

As you can guess, this article is refraining from mentioning funny parts where possible and thus does not give the film justice. However, I can say without a doubt that it is definitely funnier than the Hangover 2 and 3 and is around the same line as the first Hangover movie. A must see.