Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie

Well, Britain’s bombastic booze-loving fashion figureheads are back for some familiar naughty fun and frolicking for committed AbFab fans to rejoice. So brace yourself “sweetie darlings” as TV-based drunken divas Patsy and Edna make their boisterous and cheeky return to the big screen in the off-kilter and shrewdly amusing Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie.

Clearly, ardent followers of the AbFab dipsy duo will embrace the further hazy-minded exploits of Edna Monsoon (Jennifer Saunders) and Edna Stone (Joanna Lumley) as they are given permission at the box office to create more large scale chaos that laid the feisty foundation for their high-wire antics on the boob tube from the early 1990’s.

The movie adaptation of Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie stems from the highly popular British sitcom originally aired on the BBC network. Saunders, the creative mastermind behind the pop cultural AbFab phenomenon that started out as a French & Saunders (as in Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders) sketch soon found its free-spirited footing as a television series that would repeatedly return into the fold for many years until dismissing production in the summer of 2012. Now four years later Saunders and Lumley are back as the alcohol-sipping, flamboyant fashionistas embroiled in yet another scandalous romp.

As loyal and nostalgic AbFab enthusiasts already acknowledge the premise involves the London-based lushes in middle-aged divorcee Edna (“Eddy”) and hanger-on Patsy—both curiously successful in the local fashion industry despite their heavy-handed indulgences. Both rough-around-the-edge women are hardened in drinking, chain-smoking, shopping, clubbing, and man-hunting while trying to desperately cling to their youth-oriented recklessness. Somehow Edna and Patsy manage to juggle their high-powered fashion careers with the extreme cartoonish vices that make them rather…er, colorfully erratic.

Of course the running gag in the off-balance jocularity centered i...

A guide to how to get away with a murder!

I have never seen the original television series, but I came across and found it interesting to try, only to realise in my watch that it was not what I thought of it. Yeah, definitely my disadvantage was that I didn't know the characters, the universe and all the basics. Those who loved the show might enjoy it better, since they know what to expect from it. I was like looking for a proper intro. The introduction of everything, as I'm not familiar with anything out of it. But it did not come, the story just went on and on from the opening itself. I was confused what's going on, who is who and et al.

It took almost half of the film to be comfortable with the scenario of the tale. Once I was there, I thought it was funny in places, yet I did not feel like to have a laugh. Again, I blame myself for missing out the fun for not knowing them very well. It never occurred to me before. I have seen many films that proceeded by its television series which I haven't seen. It looked short and the pace was excellent, so I did not get bored, except not getting the overall film properly. Otherwise, I would have rated it better. I think the people like me should be careful while picking it. Other than that it is an okay film, not a bad film.

5/10

I think to be fair, the television series that ended four years earlier had already recycled these scenarios once to often, so by the time we got to this there was actually very little room left to innovate with these well tired characters. The no longer very outrageous "Edina" (Jennifer Saunders) can't get her "blah blah blah" memoirs published and is running out of money whilst the Champagne swilling "Patsy" (Joanna Lumley) isn't much help. They go to one event run by "Magda" (Kathy Burke) and somehow Kate Moss ends up in the Thames. Accusations fly and soon our dynamic duo are on the run to the Cöte d'Azur to avoid charges of murder! Once there we enjoy the usual drug/drink fuelled party and casino humour with some guest appearances from the likes of Barry Humphries, Lulu and finally Marcia Warren as their possible route back to the lives they used to live - and we used to laugh at. Mandie Fketecher has managed to amass a fairly impressive catalogue of super models, the odd British B-lister and a few other familiar faces but I found the joke just tired. Long-suffering daughter "Saffy" (Julia Sawalha) is just too used to all her mother's daft antics by now, mother (June Whitfield) and her disdainful looks have rather lost their sting and the usually lively "Bubbles" (Jane Horrocks) is just under-used as the lacklustre story skirts the realms of farce. They even updated the "Wheels on Fire" at the end... Sorry, this is nobody's finest work and rather turned the Bolly of 1992 into a distinctly flat Cava in 2016.