Topic: Rewatching The Inbetweeners after that anniversary horror show

[madhair60]

It is still good and funny, possibly gooder and funnier than I remember. The first film is also good. This is the level of criticism I bring to Comedy Chat.  "its good"

Do you think its good?

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Yes, I do. You bumder.

[ajsmith2]

Never watched many episodes, just the odd one. Being at least a decade older than the characters were meant to be at the time it always filled me with a vague malaise of lost youth, but nearly everything does that to me, that's just my issue.

One thing I do remember is the one where Will has an empty and they spend the whole episode just depressingly wasting the day away doing petty vandalism and acting up. I also remember really feeling for Simon in that one, more than you were probably meant to. He's supposed to do a golf tournament with his Dad the next day. A special moment, father and son together. But he throws it away to get boozed up and play video games into the late hours of the morning. Just imagining the heart-breaking disappointment when his father finds out that his son has taken the wrong path.

[St_Eddie]

Great show!  My favourite episode is either the one where Simon, the boys and his girlfriend travel to stay at her Sister's house (Will wolfing down a bonsai tree, Simon slapping his own cock and Neil pissing the bed are the highlights), or the last episode of series 3, where they go camping ("I now literally have ants in my pants" is a line which never fails to make me smile).

[magval]

I've watched the first two series twice and the films twice each, but the third series only once. I remember it as being uncharacteristically mean-spirited and generally much less funny.

Camping episode does stick out as a highlight but too much Simon's Girlfriend wankery and nastiness.

Might rewatch the lot to see how it goes.

Neil falling asleep at the wheel in Film 2 and waking up with that 'awobabobob' sound remains the funniest thing I have ever seen in the cinema, and I cried with laughter, shivering hunkered down in my chair, helpless and embarrassed, for so long that I actually missed the entirety of the next scene.

[Chollis]

Yes, it's good and I like it. I was a year or two older than the characters when it came out and a lot of it was very familiar and often pretty close to the bone. The first film was alright but I haven't watched the second one and don't intend to.

"I'm gonna fuck your fucking fanny off you twat!" is also one of my all time favourite lines in comedy and I don't care who knows it.

[Captain Z]

I rewatched the 3 three series a couple of months ago. I think it still holds up very well and is often incredibly well-observed with regards to the language and humour of boys that age, from obvious moments like "bus wankers" to more subtle things like Jay's "oo-hoo, Northwood? Nice knowin' ya Si" - exactly the kind of things people would come out with at school/6th form. It's a shame that there's a couple of moments that just push things too far - I can believe that Jay would accidentally wank in an occupied room in an old people's home, but I do not belive that a smart guy like Will would decide a perm wig is a suitable sustitue for his pubes, and it makes absolutely no sense.

[spanky]

Similarly, when Jay's in his room preparing to join the dead hand gang and Neil comes in, he's clawing away trying to close his laptop with his numb hand rather than his perfectly fine left hand. Someone with that much wanking experience would be a master at covering his tracks at the merest hint of being caught.

[St_Eddie]

It's a shame that there's a couple of moments that just push things too far - I can believe that Jay would accidentally wank in an occupied room in an old people's home, but I do not belive that a smart guy like Will would decide a perm wig is a suitable sustitue for his pubes, and it makes absolutely no sense.

If I remember correctly, wasn't Will's plan to take a cutting from the wig but his date startles him and in a blind panic, he shoves the whole wig down his pants?  They go straight over to her place and start making out and she keeps trying to put her hand down his trousers but he, knowing that the concealed wig lies within, keeps trying to nonchalantly bat her away but she persists and the jig is up!

The point being that Will didn't believe that an entire wig would pass muster as a credible makeshift merkin.  He had a crazy idea upon seeing the wig and before he could properly process how preposterous that idea was, much less actually take a clipping of the wig, he stuffed it down his pants and spent the rest of the evening trying his darnedest to conceal his itchy little secret.  Contrived?  Yes.  Entirely nonsensical?  Eh, not really.

[arpster]

Jay's dad should have got a spin-off series..

[H-O-W-L]

This is a total gut feel having not rewatched it lately but instinctively I feel like the original series had a kind of miserable grimness that the later series lost in favour of more like, grandiose gross-out or weird moments, alá Bottom.

[Jockice]

I rewatched the 3 three series a couple of months ago. I think it still holds up very well and is often incredibly well-observed with regards to the language and humour of boys that age, from obvious moments like "bus wankers" to more subtle things like Jay's "oo-hoo, Northwood? Nice knowin' ya Si" - exactly the kind of things people would come out with at school/6th form. It's a shame that there's a couple of moments that just push things too far - I can believe that Jay would accidentally wank in an occupied room in an old people's home, but I do not belive that a smart guy like Will would decide a perm wig is a suitable sustitue for his pubes, and it makes absolutely no sense.

That's part of the reason it struck a chord with me, even as someone who was last a sixth-former before we were even halfway through the 80s. It was very accurate in the way teenage boys talk to and act with each other and around girls (even though some of my contemporaries disagree - but then one of them wrote love messages to a girl in the year below all over the desk he was using during one of his o-levels. I happened to have the same desk the next day and as I also liked this lass -although I vastly preferred her older sister - it put me off so much I failed the exam).

if they'd based it in the 80s as they were originally planning to it would possibly be more accurate from my point of view but I do prefer stuff like the 'ooh friend' bit (a common thing among teenage boys is to pick up on something minor a friend has said and use it as an insult over and over again) to the silly stunts. Although some of them are quite funny too.

[Jockice]

Similarly, when Jay's in his room preparing to join the dead hand gang and Neil comes in, he's clawing away trying to close his laptop with his numb hand rather than his perfectly fine left hand. Someone with that much wanking experience would be a master at covering his tracks at the merest hint of being caught.

That bit is hilarious though.

[Beagle 2]

I'm here to pour some fresh scorn on your enjoyment of a television programme. Cliched characters drawn broadly without an ounce of charm between them. Try-hard tastelessness. It always seemed like my dad trying to write a show about what he imagined my teenage life was like.

[Jockice]

I'm here to pour some fresh scorn on your enjoyment of a television programme. Cliched characters drawn broadly without an ounce of charm between them. Try-hard tastelessness. It always seemed like my dad trying to write a show about what he imagined my teenage life was like.

Yeah, I was never a big fan of The Young Ones either.

[ArtParrott]

It would be a much better show without Wills voiceover imo.

[Shameless Custard]

Rewatching the class trip episode (S2E1), I hadn't laughed so much in ages. Once it got to the boat and THAT bit, I was in fits. A brilliant bit of sitcom silliness

[Chollis]

Simon's hair and especially fringe piss me off throughout the entire show though. Probably intended.

[St_Eddie]

It would be a much better show without Wills voiceover imo.

I've always wondered about the context for his narration; for example, maybe as an adult, Will writes a book or gives a talk about his school days and the show is essentially him looking back and reminiscing about those days.  I'm probably overthinking it though.

Simon's hair and especially fringe piss me off throughout the entire show though. Probably intended.

Definitely intended.  The other characters mock him for it ("Statue of Liberty").

[billyandthecloneasaurus]

had a sickie today so watched the second film, wasn't great.

[St_Eddie]

had a sickie today so watched the second film, wasn't great.

Better than the first, I thought but neither are very good, nor up to the standard of the television series itself.  I'd have much rather they'd left it well enough alone after the third series, all things told (but maybe had a one-off special reunion, scripted I hasten to add, episode in another 5 years or so).

[Jerzy Bondov]

I 100% honestly think it's really hilarious when he goes down the slide and there's a poo in there chasing him. Honestly. I saw the film in the cinema and I was in tears. It's very, very funny to see a poo chasing a man down a tube slide.

[madhair60]

There are some excellent moments in the sequel.

"No, it's cool. I'm not even bothered. I've got some stuff to sort out in... Vietnam, like CIA shit. Basically, I'm getting my own private train with a machine gun on front. I'm gonna drive across the country, standing up, firing out the machine gun as it goes along, so..."

[Nowhere Man]

Better than the first, I thought but neither are very good, nor up to the standard of the television series itself.  I'd have much rather they'd left it well enough alone after the third series, all things told (but maybe had a one-off special reunion, scripted I hasten to add, episode in another 5 years or so).

Struggling to think of many movie spinoffs of British sitcoms that end up holding a candle to the originals, I remember the Steptoe and Son movies being pretty good, but Galton & Simpson are in a league of their own anyway.

The less said about Guest House Paradiso the better. okay fine it's a guilty pleasure and the kitchen fight scene is one of the funniest things ever

[Jockice]

I've always wondered about the context for his narration; for example, maybe as an adult, Will writes a book or gives a talk about his school days and the show is essentially him looking back and reminiscing about those days.  I'm probably overthinking it though.

I think you are overthinking it too. Isn't the context just that he's the new boy and is trying to work out exactly how he fits in with his new friends' dynamic. Like the bit where he says something about how Jay cried when he was dumped and the others demand that he apologises, leading him to say that he has absolutely no idea what the rules are.

Been there as well. Although I only went to one secondary school, I was at four primary ones and fitting in is a complete game of chance. Even after several years at secondary I was sometimes left puzzled by what went on between kids who had known each other since the age of five or so. Like why did my mate Richard hate that (to me totally harmless) kid in the year below so much? I've never been able to work that one out. I think the crap scrap between Jay and Simon in the first film is a good example of this. And a very accurate representation of what most teenage fights are like, or at least were in the old days before knives were invented.

[A Hat Like That]

yeah, the first Inbetweeners film would have taken a real turn for the better had Jay shanked Simon and then got clobbered in turn by the pals Si made while selling all his stuff at the beachfront.

[Special K]

I think the crap scrap between Jay and Simon in the first film is a good example of this. And a very accurate representation of what most teenage fights are like, or at least were in the old days before knives were invented.

This is my favourite scene in the entire thing. The way Jay stomps on the bench afterwards is brilliant!

[Retinend]

Series 2 ends on a great choice of music

[vainsharpdad]

The poo bit was nicked from Kevin and Perry anyway. A film the first movie owes a lot to.

[St_Eddie]

The poo bit was nicked from Kevin and Perry anyway. A film the first movie owes a lot to.

Absolutely.  Why they choose to rip-off a fairly awful, lowest common denominator movie, such as Kevin & Perry Go Large is as baffling, as it is lamentable.  Then again, the box office results and largely glowing reviews probably attest to it being the right thing to do, from a business perspective at any rate.