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Youth In Revolt

While ocasionally a little too clever for its own good, this witty and ambitious comedy comes out on top.

Visioneers

A peculiarly compelling little film which admirably demonstrates restraint and well-paced comedic timing.

Beneath Hill 60

Devoid of overblown heroism and boosted by fine performances, this is a powerfully affecting war tale.

A Prophet

This sprawling ultra-realistic prison drama is a near-masterpiece and further complemented by a clutch of impressive special features.

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Angus, Thongs And Perfect Snogging (DVD)

by Rhiannon Sawyer | January 22, 2009 11:27 | Edited January 22, 2009 11:28

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging is the ultimate film selection for any 10 - 15 year old slumber party. It has cute boys, life lessons and, just like one of its tweenie predecessors, Clueless, plenty of sound bite perfect phrases for every girl to emulate. Despite this categorisation, the film may hold appeal to a slightly older audience who wish to relive their awkward teenage years, though some of the trite acting and seemingly forced British accents may stretch the nerves.

 

The film, based on the best selling series of books by Louise Rennison, follows Georgia Nicholson (Georgia Groome, London to Brighton) whose flair for the dramatic in life pulls the narrative along to its predictable and highly unrealistic ending. When two new boys arrive at school, Georgia and her friends must do anything to secure Robbie (Aaron Johnson) and Tom (Sean Bourke) for themselves, keeping them away from "slaggy Lindsay" (Kimberley Nixon). Throw in plenty of embarrassing parental and social moments, lessons in snogging and unfortunate grooming disasters and you have the ultimate in teenage girl entertainment.

While the film has none of the acerbic wit of American counterparts like Mean Girls, it has its own brand of British humour and more importantly can't go far wrong under the ever sunny eye of director Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham, Bride and Prejudice) who demonstrates a deft hand guiding the simple story through the motions.

 

DVD extras include a comprehensive meet the cast, as well as featurettes on first kisses, Angus the cat, the set and costumes and more. Some feel completely unnecessary, like Angus cam which simply follows the cat around from unfortunate angles, and others suffer from being too short that the significance is again lost. What does come across however is how much fun Gurinder Chadha and the cast had in making the film, which often seems like one big slumber party. All of the extras are designed well and truly for the inquisitive 14 and unders, with each one structured as diary entries complete with tweenie lingo. Nevertheless, they make a nice addition to a thoroughly decent movie.