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Deadpool & Wolverine: Marvel Jesus, potty mouths and bloody cameos – discuss with spoilers

The satirical superhero match-up broke rules and box office records, but what kind of Marvel cinematic universe has it left us with?

Major spoilers ahead

Deadpool & Wolverine is such a strange beast of a movie that some critics have suggested it may not even be a film at all – which rather begs the question, what exactly is it? An extended satirical comedy skit, like something you’d see on Saturday Night Live, but running more than two hours? A meta-infused, sarcastic diatribe against the entire superhero genre? A buddy movie featuring two middle-aged men in tight costumes who really should know better?

The reality is that Shawn Levy’s film is all of these things, and possibly not a lot more. The Marvel films are by their nature a little throwaway and made-in-the-moment, but this one feels so gossamer-thin that if you remove all the superhero tomfoolery, drug and sex japes, manic fourth wall breaking and endless, often rather pointless cameos, there is really very little left. Audiences from the future looking back at this one in 2045 might wonder exactly how Ryan Reynolds and his team got away with delivering something so flimsy and slight to the door of Marvel’s president, Kevin Feige. And yet it’s an undeniably entertaining romp that will no doubt deliver gazillions in box office greenbacks, just when Disney really needs them.

Whether it’s a movie, art, or anything substantial at all probably isn’t the point. The question here is whether Deadpool & Wolverine can save Marvel by dragging the studio out of its critical slump – is our hero really “Marvel Jesus”? – and whether we really want it to if this is what the next 10 years is going to look like.

What is this (very weird) fresh hell that Marvel has delivered?

Perhaps another way to describe Levy’s film is that it feels like an endless series of mostly impressive set pieces connected only loosely by anything approaching an actual plot. From the opening scenes in which Deadpool stunningly takes down a crew of Time Variance Authority agents using only bits of dead Fox-verse Wolverine’s adamantium-clad skeleton as the opening credits splatter across the screen, this is a film that is big on visuals and shock tactics – there have been suggestions that all the jokes about gay sex amount to little more than cynical queerbaiting – and rather lacking in traditional Marvel aesthetics such as universe-building and making logical sense.

Even Wolverine’s story arc is pretty much the same as the one we saw in 2017’s Logan, with the emotionally ravaged mutant left looking back in sorrow at a wasted life after all his X-buddies somehow copped it. The approach – sending up everything and taking nothing seriously – is exactly what Deadpool did in his previous 20th Century Fox movies, so should we really be shocked that the tone is exactly the same in the MCU?

The cameos, the sudden deaths, the multiversal switcheroos

I’ve read some critics suggesting that Deadpool & Wolverine’s cameos were delivered with greater guile than for example, those in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness – would you agree? I found myself unable to work out whether Channing Tatum’s turn as Gambit was intended to be terrible for deliberate comic effect, or if he really did need (as Reynolds suggests in-movie) to get a better dialect coach. Perhaps it was the huge, booming Imax cinema where the screening took place, but I found it impossible to understand what the card-wielding mutant was supposed to be saying.

Fair enough, I suppose, if the aim is just to take the piss. But I rather like Gambit as a character (especially after AJ LoCascio’s bravura turn in the excellent X-Men ‘97) and felt a little bit cheated. The impressive film-making sleight-of-hand as we were introduced to a hero who appeared to be Chris Evans’s Captain America in the Void, only for the person in question to turn out to be Chris Evans’s Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch, was a palpably clever, brilliant moment. But then they killed him straight off in hyper-gruesome fashion. Oh well.

Why did they bother to bring back Jennifer Garner’s Elektra for all of five minutes? I’m not sure I was too fussed over Wesley Snipes’s brief appearance as Blade either, though at least the arrival of Dafne Keen’s X-23 in the MCU seems to be permanent. What did you think? Are we still supposed to get our fangirl and fanboy knickers in a twist over all this inter-universal shenanigans when it’s apparently all just one big joke?

Cassandra Nova and lots of little Loki-isms

It’s hard to escape the sense that Levy and Reynolds took one look at Loki seasons one and two and decided this was exactly the right kind of material to help them heavily satirise Marvel’s multiversal phase. Emma Corrin does a fine job as Professor X’s evil twin, though quite why they had to introduce herself as such, when Charles Xavier hasn’t even been properly debuted into the main Marvel reality, rather beats me. Those multiple Deadpool variants were briefly amusing, and who couldn’t love Dogpool? Yes, it’s Blake Lively as Lady Deadpool, who else?

A last hurrah for Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine?

While you might have thought you saw the last of him in 2017’s Logan, this was another chance to remind ourselves that Hugh Jackman’s curmudgeonly mutant has been one of the finest comic book creations of our times, even while the movies he has starred in have been more up and down than Hulk’s blood pressure at an anger management class. At least Deadpool & Wolverine didn’t take the easy option and kill him off again to pull on our tired and jaded heartstrings one last time.

And yet the existence of this version of Wolverine in the main MCU could end up making it harder rather than easy to bring the rest of the X-Men back. Will Professor X, Cyclops, Beast, Storm, Rogue, Mystique et al all now also have to be ported in from other universes? And what happens if another version of Logan ends up coming with them? This could get confusing.

Is the Marvel Cinematic Universe now forever changed, or just a bit more sweary?

Evans’s cameo was a smartly knowing snicker at the challenges Feige and co will face if they really want Deadpool to one day meet Thor, Hulk and Doctor Strange. Captain America could never appear in an R-rated movie packed with gags about anal sex and Colombian marching powder – this is a guy for whom “son of a bitch” is taking it about as far as he’s prepared to go. So will Deadpool himself have to tone it down when he inevitably turns up in an Avengers movie?

Levy’s film hints heavily that this will probably never happen, so far apart are those films tonally from the world of the Merc with a Mouth. “Deadpool & Wolverine isn’t a commercial for another movie,” said Reynolds recently . “It’s just not part of the DNA.” Having seen the film for yourself, do you have a sneaking suspicion that might just be for the best?

• Deadpool & Wolverine
• Now you've seen it
• Superhero movies
• Science fiction and fantasy films
• Ryan Reynolds
• Hugh Jackman

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The Inbetweeners Movie

Brit sitcom "The Inbetweeners," which tracked the travails of four male misfits in their last years at high school, makes a satisfying leap to the bigscreen in summer holiday adventure "The Inbetweeners Movie."

By Charles Gant

Charles Gant

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Brit sitcom “The Inbetweeners ,” which tracked the travails of four male misfits in their last years at high school, makes a satisfying leap to the bigscreen in summer holiday adventure “ The Inbetweeners Movie.” A characteristically British, excessively drunken twist on the “ American Pie ” formula of sexual misadventure, adolescent male friendship and bodily fluids, pic will easily recoup its modest production coin on home turf, with boffo box office (it grossed $4.2 million its first day) preceding even bigger ancillary returns. How it will fare elsewhere is a headscratcher, although at worst it should appeal to fans of warped British comedy.

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As in the TV show, brainy, socially awkward Will (Simon Bird) has been accepted into the gang of relatively well-adjusted Simon (Joe Thomas), sex-obsessed serial liar Jay (James Buckley) and guileless, is-he-really-that-stupid Neil (Blake Harrison). Post-high school, the glue that has kept this unlikely quartet together seems about to come unstuck, but not before they enjoy a testosterone-fueled holiday in the Aegean party town of Malia , Crete.

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Also present in Malia is Carli (Emily Head), the girl who served as Simon’s romantic obsession for all three seasons of the sitcom, and who he’s on holiday to get over (shades of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”). Conveniently, the boys soon meet a quartet of English female vacationers, although obstacles remain: Jay is initially embarrassed at the ample physique of fun-loving Jane (Lydia Rose Bewley), Simon tests the indulgently sweet nature of Lucy (Tamla Kari) with endless ramblings about Carli, and so on. Will, who wittily narrates, is correctly identified as a socially maladroit virgin by out-of-his-league Alison (Laura Haddock), but she warms to his disarming honesty and sly quips. Will is a great asset for scribes and series co-creators Iain Morris and Damon Beesley, providing a flavor of humor that’s distinctive for the genre.

While the fish-out-of-water tale will be best appreciated by the sitcom’s legion of British fans, auds coming to it fresh may struggle to empathize. Jay seems a generically horny, borderline-misogynistic teen, but to appreciate this surprisingly endearing character, it helps to have witnessed the confidence-sapping ribbing by his father (only briefly glimpsed here) over the series’ 18-episode arc. Neil, aka “the thick one,” likewise has depths that were only slowly revealed on the smallscreen, and may not be readily apparent here.

Laughs come fast in the opening stretch, and a scene in which three of the boys dance their way into the girls’ attention is a skillfully performed highlight. Pacing problems set in with a saggy middle, as the script contrives a major argument between Simon and Jay, splitting the group into two pairs and thus undermining the central dynamic. Handsome, unpleasant antagonist James ( Theo James ), who has caught Carli’s eye, is dropped in and out of the action at random, and the ending is abrupt.

“ The Inbetweeners Movie ” is likely to be judged by history as a nimbler small-to-bigscreen transfer than past Brit-scripted feature-length comedies such as “Kevin and Perry Go Large” and “Ali G Indahouse,” but less so than the anarchic “Borat.” Direction from the show’s second- and third-season helmer Ben Palmer is confident, and all jokes are well-edited for laughs. Some of the best gags involve costumes, with Will choosing among three identical-looking pairs of beige chinos for his first big night out on the town, while at one point he’s forced to wear a T-shirt bearing the embarrassing legend “Mr. I F*** Kids.” You won’t see that in “American Pie.”

• Production: An Entertainment Films release of a Film4 presentation of a Young Bwark production. (International sales: IM Global, Los Angeles.) Produced by Christopher Young. Executive producers, Iain Morris, Damon Beesley, Caroline Leddy, Shane Allen, Leo Martin. Directed by Ben Palmer. Screenplay, Iain Morris, Damon Beesley.
• Crew: Camera (color, HD), Ben Wheeler; editors, William Webb, Charlie Fawcett; music, Mike Skinner; music supervisor, Jeremy Kimberlin; production designer, Dick Lunn; art director, Lucienne Suren; set decorator, Anna Kasabova; costume designer, Rosa Dias; sound (Dolby Digital), Bob Newton; supervising sound editor, Jack Gillies; re-recording mixer, Richard Davey; visual effects supervisor, Andrew Daffy; visual effects, the House of Curves; stunt coordinator, Jordi Casares; line producer, Rosa Romero; associate producers, Mike Morris, David Root, Rhianna Andrews; assistant director, Patrick Conroy; casting, Nadira Seecoomar. Reviewed at Vue, London, Aug. 16, 2011. Running time: 97 MIN.
• With: Will MacKenzie - Simon Bird Jay Cartwright - James Buckley Neil Sutherland - Blake Harrison Simon Cooper - Joe Thomas Carli D'Amato - Emily Head Jane - Lydia Rose Bewley Alison - Laura Haddock Lucy - Tamla Kari Lisa - Jessica Knappett Richard - Theo Barklem-Biggs James - Theo James

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The Inbetweeners Movie review

Can The Inbetweeners make the jump from the small screen to the cinema? Here's Caroline's review...

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Let’s straighten something out right from the start: The Inbetweeners Movie isn’t Kevin And Perry Go Large . While that misjudged sketch show off-shoot failed to inspire any emotion other than a gag reflex amongst many (although it cleaned up at the box office), The Inbetweeners Movie is a love letter to innocent teenage years, and a sweet and good-natured look back at the milestone of the first lad’s holiday. 

On the surface, the story of The Inbetweeners Movie isn’t actually a million miles away from Kevin And Perry. But here, it’s worked into a British coming of age film fit to be mentioned in the same breath as US efforts like Superbad and American Pie . It’s crude, rude, importantly funny and essentially tragic. The important thing is, it isn’t a disaster. It’s really rather good.

And it could so easily have gone wrong. Sitcoms have a bad reputation for jumping the gun to the cinemas, only to tarnish the work they’ve built up on TV. There’s often something very un-Hollywood about British comedy shows, and so it can often feel like they’ve sold their soul to the industry. Thankfully, the characters here are exactly the same as they always were. That’s a vital ingredient when dealing with a group whose entire appeal is their static, everyman lives. 

The Inbetweeners Movie picks up where the show left things. Simon’s (Joe Thomas) finally going out with Carly (Emily Head), Jay’s (James Buckley) still making up stories about his many escapades, and Neil’s (Blake Harrison) snogging someone from the supermarket. Will’s (Simon Bird) still Will, which means he’s being awkward and clueless, something his father (Anthony Stewart Head) is all too keen to pick up on.

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But when Carly unceremoniously dumps Simon, the boys decide to go on a traditional lad’s holiday to Malia to cheer him up, get drunk and pick up loads of girls.

What happens next could have happened on the show, were the locations, money and resources available. There’s a sense of scale to the film that has never been present on E4, but the normality of everyone involved always comes round to ground things in reality.

There’s a slow motion walk through the airport close to the film’s beginning, and it’s closely followed by the realisation from the four leads that their flight’s been delayed for seven hours and their t-shirts (‘Pussay Patrol’) are too offensive to be worn on board. And so it goes on. Whenever there’s a moment of potential poignancy or Hollywood sheen allowed to creep into the edges of the frame, it’s quickly brought crashing down into the grim reality us Brits do so well.

Things obviously don’t go to plan, and there’s an overriding sense that the boys will go their separate ways come their return home. This separation after school is something that’s been dealt with a lot, but it’s not discussed at any length during The Inbetweeners TV show. It’s not touched on much in the movie, either. The four of them were always unnatural friends, and these personality clashes and tensions explode more than once across the duration of the holiday. Yet one look at Jay’s face when he realises he’s being left behind says everything lesser films might spend half an hour explaining.

The tagline for the film tells us that ‘boys will become men’, but that’s not what The Inbetweeners has ever been about. They have their little triumphs alongside the embarrassing moments and hilarious situations, and you’ll leave the cinema with a smile and comforting sense that they’d be alright in the end. 

The movie is a rare beast in that, instead of riding on the show’s success for the sake of it, it rounds the story off, ruining none of the show’s charming simplicity in the process. It’s a real achievement, and a film that deserves a lot of success for not only successfully navigating a tricky path, but also delivering a thumping good comedy in the process.

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Caroline Preece

The Inbetweeners Movie – Review

The Inbetweeners Movie (15)

Release Date: Wednesday 17 August

Cast: Simon Bird, James Buckley, Blake Harrison and Joe Thomas

Director: Ben Palmer

Screenwriter Iain Morris, Damon Beesley

Running Time: 97 minutes

After featuring the foursome on the front cover of the magazine and bestowing an NME Shockwaves Award on them for Best TV programme , it’s safe to say we here at NME are more than a little enamoured with the boys of Rudge Park Comprehensive. Such is our affection for The Inbetweeners we may be perilously close to facing the daily ordeal of having strangers yell at us in a high pitched voice, “Telly fwend!”, or worse, “Teenage boy fwend!” while simultaneously administering the ‘double thumbs’.

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With that in mind it was with mild trepidation that we approached the first big screen outing for Will, Simon, Neil and Jay. We can happily report that trepidation, mild or otherwise, is unwarranted, for The Inbetweeners Movie is brilliantly what it is. The Inbetweeners writ large. Nothing more, nothing less.

The path from small to silver screen is littered with the remains of comic talent (and James Corden) who thought they could make it with the big boys. Be forewarned, the following sentence contains at least two crimes against cinema. Guest House Paradiso, Kevin and Perry Go Large, Ali G In Da House and Lesbian Vampire Killers all clawed away at our subconscious as we took our seats, awaiting the prospect of a 40ft Simon Bird. To our relief, within minutes is was apparent The Inbetweeners is nothing like the aforementioned atrocities.

Bypassing the pitfall of ‘let’s make it The Inbetweeners on acid!’ and throwing the gang head first into a political conspiracy that MAY JUST HOLD THE TRUTH ABOUT THE MOONLANDINGS, the simplicity of the four friends looking for “sex, booze, tits, sex, fanny minge, sex, tits, booze and sex” holds up perfectly.

For that, admittedly small, percentage of people flocking to the cinema who aren’t aware that clunge means ‘female genitalia’ – and that the boys’ main goal in life is to insert their penises into said clunge – within the first five minutes this has been made abundantly clear.

Because we have four easily identifiable, hopelessly inept (read: real and believable) teenagers at the forefront, the story moves at a swift pace, throwing in comedy set-pieces – involving puke, ants, nudity and a genuinely funny dance number – that actually raise a chuckle. Sure, one or two gags miss the target (mainly gay jokes that were out of date before the boys were born) but there’s an inherent niceness to proceedings that grants the makers the benefit of the doubt.

In no way does the film share the poignancy of say a Stand By Me or the emotional depth of fellow Brit comedy Four Lions , but The Inbetweeners does have heart. By the end of the first act, no matter how ridiculous their pissy antics you’ll invest in these sad little bastards and ask that they please, please, please get what they want. What made the show work in the first place was the people watching at home related emphatically. Even upscaled you still will.

Those that think teenagers drinking heavily and wanting to touch boobiess is the devil’s work will leave at the sight of Jay masturbating into ham while wearing a snorkle. The rest of us can sit back, relax and enjoy a bloody nice time with some old friends.

Verdict Perhaps the most surprising quality, and the attribute that may help its box office, is The Inbetweeners Movie works for the uninitiated. It’s a simple coming of age comedy about four friends, each an archetypal character – the nerdy one, the lovelorn one, the bullshitter and the happy fool – all with similar goals and the ‘fwendship’ they share. It’s Superbad for Blighty, it’s Swingers for the wanking crowd.

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'The Inbetweeners Movie' review

You'll need more than just wellies to contend with The Inbetweeners Movie . Along with the mandatory clunge, viewers will find themselves knee deep in deliciously crude humour and hilarious performances that help ensure a successful transition from television set to cinema. In short, it's pretty gashtastic.

The adventures of the four lustful teens on a booze-drenched holiday in Malia contain enough hilarious and inventive gags to fill out the extended length of the tale compared to their previous escapades. As the mantra goes, what happens on tour stays on tour. So it wouldn't be fair to divulge too many details of the shady shenanigans experienced by Will (Simon Bird), Jay (James Buckley), Simon (Joe Thomas) and Neil (Blake Harrison) after Mr Gilbert gives them a jaw-dropping send off from school.

Let's just say that anyone who has emerged from a lads' holiday with any form of recollection can relate to many of the messy antics, which of course entail doomed and drunken pursuits of the opposite sex, abject humiliation, fallings out, dodgy dancefloor manoeuvres and inappropriate domestic defecation. Admittedly, that last example might be one log too far for many survivors of such a trip. But not all...

Amidst all the talk of gash, clunge, rat, punani or whatever unflattering word used to verbally depict females as sexual objects, there is a refreshing feminine undercurrent to chunks of the movie. This is provided by the quartet of well fleshed out lasses (in terms of character, not size... mostly) encountered by the hapless guys in Malia.

Spearheaded by the alluring Laura Haddock as poor Will's wannabe conquest Alison, they are far more than mere plot functions or eye candy, adding a great deal of emotional intrigue and mirth to the story and are surely worthy of their own spinoff at some stage.

The main stars are undoubtedly of the male variety though, with James Buckley's Jay responsible for the bulk of the howling laughter and cringes. Unlike Simon, whose subplot with his beloved Carli seriously grates, Jay delivers moments of surprising poignancy too - showcasing Buckley's versatility and highlighting the production team's wise move to seek a credible 'coming of age' narrative to underpin the madness.

However, inspiration is distinctly lacking with the movie's ending - as it finishes with a little spurt not even worthy of the fluids emitting from the ejaculating penis so lovingly sunburnt into Will's back. Fortunately, along with some rushed and incongruous editing, it doesn't significantly detract from the excellent work beforehand.

Reliant on the likeable cast to deliver the goods, they do just that. One scene, featuring Will in a compromising situation, works wonderfully purely on the basis of a procession of increasingly comical reaction shots of Simon Bird's unease.

There were justifiable fears that The Inbetweeners Movie would turn out to be a clanger, with a feeling that the three series on E4 had milked every embarrassing teenage masturbatory predicament and m**ge-hunting scenario dry. As it turns out, these pratfalls are indeed still, for want of a more appropriate word, wet. A sensation that one of the lads fails to find when grabbing a granny in a club...

.css-15yqwdi:before{top:0;width:100%;height:0.25rem;content:'';position:absolute;background-image:linear-gradient(to right,#51B3E0,#51B3E0 2.5rem,#E5ADAE 2.5rem,#E5ADAE 5rem,#E5E54F 5rem,#E5E54F 7.5rem,black 7.5rem,black);} The Inbetweeners

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Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, chaz's journal, great movies, contributors, harold and the purple crayon.

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As someone who venerates Harold and the Purple Crayon , Crockett Johnson ’s 1955 hymn to the power of imagination (I gift every love one's new baby with a copy of the book with a purple crayon taped inside),  the idea of a film adaptation has always filled me with a certain sense of trepidation. This is due to the somewhat uneven track record of past attempts to bring the great works of children’s literature to the screen. Sure, a film like Spike Jonze ’s take on Maurice Sendak’s beloved “ Where the Wild Things Are ” captured the delicate charms of its source material in ways that enchanted viewers both young and old. But for every one of those, there's something like that monstrous live-action version of “The Cat in the Hat,” a movie just as bad as the original Dr. Seuss book was good.

Now “Harold and the Purple Crayon” has arrived in theaters in all its live-action glory. It starts on a surprisingly engaging note: a 2-D animated sequence that recaps Harold’s adventures in the book. The sequence finds a decent approximation of the book’s famous visual style and features narration by Alfred Molina . Unfortunately, that sequence lasts about 90-odd seconds, and the real story kicks in after that. Everything goes straight to ultra-garish Hell via a narrative that feels more like a failed “ Jumanji ” knockoff than anything that the late Johnson’s work could have possibly inspired. Here is a film that pays lip service to the importance of creativity without ever displaying a demonstrable shred of it during its seemingly interminable run time.

After that recap of the original story, we see a now-grown Harold ( Zachary Levi ) still cavorting through his cartoon world along with friends Moose ( Lil Rel Howery ) and Porcupine ( Tanya Reynolds ) and the ever-present voice of the narrator. Then, one day, the narrator’s voice disappears, and Harold decides to use his all-powerful crayon to draw a portal to our world so that the three of them can try to track him down. Alas, the real world proves to be odd and confusing for them, so luckily, Harold and Moose (now in human form, though he occasionally switches back for no apparent reason) end up running into Terri ( Zooey Deschanel ) and Melvin ( Benjamin Bottani ), a mother and middle school-aged son who are still in the dumps since the death of Mel’s dad. For reasons that defy explanation, she allows them to stay the night at her house, where Harold finds Mel to be a kindred spirit — he has an unseen imaginary pet that is equal parts eagle, lion, and alligator — and lets him in on the magical crayon. (Porcupine, for the record, has gotten separated from the others and is off wreaking benign havoc on her own.)

While Terri is off at her job at Ollie’s — an institution shown far more reverence here than Johnson’s book — Mel ends up helping Harold and Moose to find the narrator, leading to any number of wacky slapstick scenes in which they fly through the air in a plane or cause mayhem at the store. They also enlist the aid of Gary (Jermaine Clement), a creepy librarian with the hots for Terri, who is also the author of an unpublishable fantasy novel called “The Glaive of Gagaroh” (allowing the film also to alienate fans of “Krull” to boot). Eventually, Gary reveals to Harold that he is, in fact, a character from a book, which sends Harold, Moose, and Mel off on a trip to Crockett Johnson’s house to finally see him. Although Google helpfully reveals the address, it inexplicably fails to mention the key reason why they could have skipped that trip. Meanwhile, Gary, having seen the crayon’s power first-hand, schemes to acquire it for himself and bring the universe of his book to life. 

Trying to transform Crockett’s 64-page book into a feature-length film would always be a dubious proposition. But even the most pessimistic of minds could have imagined something as dire as this. For starters, Harold himself has been transformed into one of the most annoying screen characters in recent memory thanks to the appallingly clumsy screenplay by David Guion and Michael Handelman that tries to make him into an irrepressible free spirit along the lines of Buddy in “ Elf .” Still, he only manages to make him obnoxious beyond belief. Things aren’t helped much by Levi’s awful performance, which tries for winsome adorableness throughout but which comes across as if a.) Levi had been struck in the head with a board before every take, and b.) that director Carlos Saldanha did enough takes to rival Kubrick before he (and presumably only he) was satisfied. Beyond that, the storyline is choppy, the visuals are utterly blah, the big set-pieces are the usual CGI-happy dreck, the sentimental moments are woefully unearned, and the notion of a film ostensibly celebrating children’s literature utilizing a librarian as the bad guy is infuriating.

Before you send me comments scolding me for not looking at this film through the eyes of a child, based on the available evidence, no one involved with “Harold and the Purple Crayon” had any real interest in engaging younger viewers on any level. Sadly, exploiting the good name of a familiar piece of IP in the hope of scoring a few bucks from families that have already seen “ Inside Out 2 ” and “ Despicable Me 4 ” and are looking for something else to watch seems to have been of more importance to actually living up to the legacy of said IP.

Ultimately, “Harold and the Purple Crayon” is the product of people working under the cynical belief that kids will just accept anything foisted upon them in the name of “family entertainment” as long as it is noisy and colorful. If you genuinely care for your kids, you will give this movie a wide berth and use the ticket money to buy and read Crockett’s original book and its follow-ups. Trust me, they'll thank you for it one day.

Peter Sobczynski

A moderately insightful critic, full-on Swiftie and all-around  bon vivant , Peter Sobczynski, in addition to his work at this site, is also a contributor to The Spool and can be heard weekly discussing new Blu-Ray releases on the Movie Madness podcast on the Now Playing network.

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Marvel’s ‘deadpool & wolverine’: what the critics are saying.

Shawn Levy's R-rated film, starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, hits theaters July 26.

By Abid Rahman

Abid Rahman

International Editor, Digital

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Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine hits theaters July 26, but the review embargo for the film broke on Tuesday, and the early reaction from critics has been largely positive.

The third Deadpool movie, and first to be included in the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe, stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman as the titular characters and is directed by Shawn Levy. The cast also includes The Crown ‘s Emma Corrin as Cassandra Nova and Succession ‘s Matthew Macfadyen as TVA (Time Variance Authority) agent Mr. Paradox.

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Box office: 'deadpool & wolverine' reaps record $38.5m in previews, best ever for an r-rated film, and more, 'deadpool & wolverine' review: ryan reynolds and hugh jackman rely on smirks and sentiment in overstuffed team-up.

Below are key excerpts from some of the most prominent early reviews.

In a m i x e d review for The Hollywood Reporter , David Rooney writes that dedicated Deadpool fans will love the in-jokes, which are cranked up for the third installment. “As bountiful as the action scenes are here, the jokes are the sturdiest part of Deadpool & Wolverine ,” Rooney writes, adding, “That’s because the plot is a lumpy stew of familiar elements, given minimal narrative clarity despite the reams of expository technobabble spouted by Matthew Macfadyen’s Mr. Paradox.”

“This is not an unmotivated crossover event,” writes Alissa Wilkinson, in her largely positive review for The New York Times. Wilkinson feels the endless jokes and goofiness works as Deadpool 3 is “self-reflective” of the corporate nature of comic book movies nowadays, but that approach has limits. “Now that this is an M.C.U. film, there are mandates. The stakes have to be absurdly high, having to do with the destruction or salvation of whole universes. More important, there must be corporate synergy,” Wilkinson writes.

Vulture critic Bilge Ebiri confesses he laughed during Deadpool 3 , if somewhat begrudgingly. “ Deadpool & Wolverine isn’t a particularly good movie — I’m not even sure it is a movie — but it’s so determined to beat you down with its incessant irreverence that you might find yourself submitting to it,” writes a seemingly exhausted Ebiri.

In a middling review, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian felt Deadpool 3 delivered everything a fan of the franchise would want, and the film makes it clear that it shouldn’t be taken too seriously. “This is a movie which more or less orders the audience to stop taking any of the proceedings seriously, shattering the fourth wall into a million pieces with material about nerds saving their ‘special sock’ for particular fight scenes,” writes Bradshaw. “It’s amusing and exhausting.”

Vanity Fair ‘s Richard Lawson felt Deadpool 3 stuck the landing, despite being “a movie about acquisition and IP, housed in a mostly nonsensical dimension-skipping tale of regret and legacy (but in a funny way). … The film’s gaze is narrow and insider-y, but it somehow kind of works,” writes Lawson, adding, “ Deadpool & Wolverine is an amusing reflection on the recent cultural past, and a half-cynical, half-hopeful musing on what its future might be.”

In a rave, The Daily Beast ‘s Nick Schager felt Deadpool 3 “does give the MCU the shot in the arm — and kick to the nuts — that’s urgently needed.” Schager writes that the film “is more amusing and electric — more alive — than any MCU installment in years, and it impressively integrates Deadpool’s distinctive R-rated personality into the decidedly PG-13 franchise.”

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Metacritic reviews

The inbetweeners.

• 80 Empire Empire Like any holiday, it is episodic and suffers from repetition but this is gag-for-gag the funniest film of the summer and a fitting end to a much-loved series. So long boys, it's been great to know you.
• 67 The A.V. Club Noel Murray The A.V. Club Noel Murray Anyone who doesn't already know and care a little about these characters might find the movie a bit thin.
• 60 The Guardian The Guardian They could have called it British Pie, but this TV sitcom spin-off updates the teen summer holiday formula surprisingly entertainingly, considering it doesn't subvert it one iota.
• 60 Variety Variety Brit sitcom The Inbetweeners, which tracked the travails of four male misfits in their last years at high school, makes a satisfying leap to the bigscreen in summer holiday adventure The Inbetweeners Movie.
• 60 Village Voice Village Voice Britishly, the movie has a knack for inflating little sap bubbles as if mostly for the joy of popping them.
• 40 Total Film Neil Smith Total Film Neil Smith Affection for the characters will bring fans in. But many will leave wishing the makers of one of the most enjoyable programmes of recent years had left well enough alone.
• 40 Time Out David Fear Time Out David Fear Even the show's disciples may feel like they've been cheated.
• 38 Slant Magazine Diego Semerene Slant Magazine Diego Semerene Oh, the hilarious awkwardness of placing privileged white kids in a place where they don't belong.
• 20 New York Daily News Joe Neumaier New York Daily News Joe Neumaier After much fumbling, the snicks and giggles of adolescence grow wearying yet again.
• 12 Boston Globe Mark Feeney Boston Globe Mark Feeney If nothing else, The Inbetweeners Movie earns itself a footnote in any comprehensive history of local movie exhibition. This has got to be the first time a wedgie has been inflicted onscreen at the Kendall.
• See all 17 reviews on Metacritic.com
• See all external reviews for The Inbetweeners

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The Inbetweeners Movie | 2012 | R | - 9.5.10

SEX/NUDITY 9 - We see a presumably fully-nude teen boy (we see his bare chest and back while his crotch is covered by a large glove) watching on a webcam a woman wearing a negligee as she licks a sex toy; the teen boy is implied to be masturbating and we see him using lunch meat and throwing it on the bed as he pants and his mother and younger sister open the door (the girl looks disgusted, his mother does not appear to care and the woman on the webcam makes a crude sexual suggestion that the teen boy should perform on his mother). ►  Two teen boys are awakened by crude sexual moaning and an unseen woman's voice instructing an unseen teen boy how to sexually satisfy her, causing the two teens to act disgusted and run away; the unseen teen boy then walks out on a patio and we see that he is shirtless with a towel around his waist and it appears that he has a large erection. ►  We see a teen boy performing manual stimulation on an older woman; two other teen boys act disgusted and we hear one teen boy's voiceover jokingly state the other teen boy is perfecting his manual stimulation skills. ►  On a stage a man dances suggestively, and we see his genitals and bare buttocks as two teen boys watch: the club announcer suggests that the dancer is going to perform fellatio on himself when we see the man pull his leg over his head and (self-fellatio is implied but not seen); we hear a teen boy's voiceover say that two teen boys had been close enough to smell the nude man's genitals. We see a teen boy's bare genitals after a boy pulls down his swimming trunks and we hear the boy tease the teen boy about the size of his genitals. A teen boy takes off his underwear and holds his hand over his genitals. The outline of a teen boy's genitals are seen through his wet swimming trunks. Four teen boys wear T-shirts with a crude drawing of a cat with giant, male genitalia on the front and crude sexual nicknames on the back. A teen boy draws large male genitals on another teen boy's back with sunscreen and a group of teen girls then tell the teen boy that he has male genitalia on his back. We see a shirtless teen boy appear to trim his pubic hair (we see him blow hair from the razor). ►  A young woman unzips her dress and takes off her bra and underwear in front of a teen boy (her bare back is visible), she asks a teen boy to take off his clothing and he pulls down his pants (we see his bare back and buttocks); the young woman places the teen boy's hand on her bare breasts and when the young woman turns around we see her bare buttocks. A teen boy asks a teen girl if she would like to kiss, and the teen girl takes the teen boy's hand and leads him away, saying she might also perform oral sex on him. A teen boy takes off his clothing (we see his bare buttocks) as a teen girl take off her dress (we see her in her bra and underwear); another teen girl takes off her dress (we see her bra and underwear), asks the teen boy to kiss her and he turns her down (as she walks away we see her take off her brassiere). A teen boy crudely jokes that he already has an erection as he walks down a street where we see many young women dancing suggestively and wearing skimpy dresses, bikini tops and short shorts. ►  We hear a woman moaning sexually while a teen boy watches a pornographic webcam video; the woman is wearing a negligee and rubs her breasts suggestively while making a sexual comment, as the teen boy crudely tells the woman that he is sexually aroused. A teen boy puts his head in between an older woman's breasts. ►  A teen boy stumbles into a man and a young woman having sex and we see the man pull up his pants (no nudity is visible) as another young woman appears and shouts at the man for having sex with another woman. ►  We see a teen boy and a teen girl kissing passionately as the teen girl, fully clothed, thrusts on top of the teen boy. We see a teen boy on top of a teen girl: they are both fully clothed and the teen boy is thrusting until the teen girl interrupts him and they talk about how they can kiss because the teen boy is not in a relationship; we then see the teen boy and teen girl kissing passionately. A teen boy and teen girl kiss passionately, the teen boy reaches for the teen girl's chest and she pulls away. A teen boy and a teen girl kiss passionately in front of a crowd of people. A teen boy and a young woman kiss passionately. We see a teen boy and a teen girl kissing passionately in front of a crowd of people. A teen boy acts disgusted when his father and his young wife kiss. ►  A young woman offers to have sex with a teen boy, the teen boy asks if it is as a girlfriend or as a prostitute and the young woman remarks that it would be as a girlfriend. A teen boy dances suggestively with two women. At a crowded club we see women dancing suggestively while wearing short skirts. ►  A teen boy tells a young woman that he wants a kiss as he tries to grab her breasts and she pushes him away (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details) while she shouts that she flirts with people because of her job and she is not interested in sleeping with every man. ►  A teen boy crudely jokes with two other teen boys that they have sex with young women on the dance floor. A teen boy crudely describes masturbating while wearing a condom. A teen boy crudely declares that a young woman will perform oral sex on him. A teen boy tells three other teen boys that he had received oral sex from an older woman and had only partially had sex with her. A teen boy tells four other teens that his mother had "caught him." A teen boy tells another teen boy that his former girlfriend was busy performing oral sex on another man. A teen boy's voiceover explains that his father had sex with his secretary. A young woman tells a teen boy that she had been having sex with her boyfriend the previous night, she then asks the teen boy what the best sex he has ever had was and the teen boy then remarks that he has never had sex. On two occasions a teen boy crudely describes how he is going to have sex with a young woman who is very sexually excited by him. A teen boy makes a crude remark about missing a teen girl's breasts and genitals. A young woman makes a remark about her boyfriend being an excellent lover. A young woman tells a teen boy not to worry about having sex, saying that if he hasn't had sex in a year that she will have sex with him. A man crudely remarks to a teen boy that another teen boy can smell the man's fingers if he wants to have sex with a teen girl. A teen boy tells two other teen boys that he had touched a young woman's breast. A teen boy tells three other teen boys that he had gotten pubic hair on his hands, knees and face when he laid down on a bathroom floor. A man crudely jokes that two teen boys enjoyed watching a man perform fellatio on himself. A teen boy tells two other teen boys that he will not have sex with any young women because he is dating another teen girl. A group of teen boys throughout the movie refer to themselves as a crude term for female genitalia. A young man crudely tells four teenage boys that they can go to the beach and watch people having sex. A teen boy makes a crude list of sexual words that three other teen boys will engage in during a sex-filled holiday. A man tells his teen son and three other teen boys that he had sex frequently when he was on vacation as a teenager; the man then makes a crude remark about women being sexually excited by the sun and the man's teen son acts disgusted. A woman teases her teenage son, telling another teen boy and his parents that her teen son at the age of 7 had run around a party with his pants down, making a crude remark about his genitals. In front of a group of people, a man makes a crude joke about his teen son not being upset when teen girls dump him because he has small genitals. A man makes a crude remark to another man that he looks gay, and then crudely describes how he would have been more obviously gay. A teen boy crudely tells another teen boy that he has a dollar bill shoved up his buttocks.

VIOLENCE/GORE 5 - A man grabs a teen boy's throat and shoves him against a bar while shouting at him (the boy walks out of the bar while crying). As a teen boy tries to grab a young woman's breasts, she slaps him in the face and storms away. Two teen boys wrestle and pant and they both appear to be in headlocks. Two teen boys lunge at each other, shouting and punching each other. A man punches a teen boy in the stomach and walks away. ►  We see an elderly man lift a dead dog from a well, the man then grabs a teen boy's hand and shakes it and the teen boy looks disgusted. We see a teen boy pull a dollar bill from his pants (it is implied that the dollar bill was in the teen boy's buttocks), and a man then uses the dollar bill to snort drugs; we see feces on the man's nose and when two young women see the feces on the man's nose they act disgusted. We see feces in a bidet; a teen boy uses a toilet brush to push the feces. A teen boy urinates on the floor of a bathroom and we see the stream and puddle of urine. We hear a teen boy urinating. ►  A teen boy throws up over the side of a boat and we see vomit hit two people; the boy then leans over the other side of the boat, vomits on a second couple and we see chunks of vomit coming from his mouth and hitting the couple. We see a teen boy vomit, with vomit coming from his mouth. We see a teen boy vomiting profusely on a street corner and then vomiting into a well. ►  A boy throws a bucket of water on a teen boy, the teen boy shouts and chases the boy, and the teen boy lifts the boy over a pool when the boy shouts that he cannot swim; the boy pulls down the trunks of the teen boy (we see his genitals), the teen boy throws the boy in the pool, and the boy appears unable to swim and is rescued by two men. ►  A man runs into a teen boy with a four-wheeler, and the boy falls to the ground and winces in pain, and then limps away. As part of a drinking game, we see a teen boy light a strip of toilet paper on fire between two other teen boy's pants; the boys slap at the fire until a third teen boy has to kick the burning toilet paper out from their pants. We see a teen boy whack another teen boy in the groin, and the boy cries out in pain and doubles over. A boy teases a teen boy and then tips him into a pool; the teen boy shouts and tries to chase the boy, but then laughs it off. A teen boy lifts up another teen boy by the waistband of his underwear until a teen girl tells the teen boy to drop the other boy and he does. ►  We see a teen boy struggling to swim to shore from a boat, a helicopter rescues him and we see the boy loaded onto a stretcher and into an ambulance (he is later seen fully recovered in a hospital bed). ►  A man makes a menacing motion that he is going to cut off a teen boy's head after the teen boy shouts the man's name. A young woman shouts at a teen boy. ►  A teen boy makes a crude joke that another teen boy will kill himself because he became sexually aroused while being raped. A teen boy tells another teen boy that he is thinking about putting stones in his pockets and throwing himself in a swimming pool. A teen boy jokes that he is going to hang himself. Two teen boys explain to another teen boy that they believe foreign police officers take people into the hills and beat them, and then rape them. A teen boy tells another teen boy that he will slap the other teen boy in the groin every time he mentions a teen girl. A young man tells two teen boys that he thinks he might have accidentally killed an elderly man and the boys act unfazed. During a speech, a man encourages an entire room full of teenagers to "try not to kill anyone." A teen boy's voiceover says that the only way school would have been the best time of his life is if he had died immediately. An older man tells a group of teen boys that they can be fined for defecating on the floor of their rented apartment. A teen boy tells another teen boy that he had defecated in a bidet. A young man tells a teen boy that a young woman had asked him to urinate on her, so he did.

LANGUAGE 10 - About 95 F-words and its derivatives, 29 sexual references, 30 scatological terms, 84 anatomical terms (8 mild), 10 mild obscenities, 1 racial slur for Middle Easterners, name-calling (cow, wally, fat ones, light weight, lanky, whiny puff, Nazi, Krauts, lard [anatomical term deleted], cretin, not normal, creepy, saucy bugger, innit, clearly mental, clinical moron, idiot, awkward, weird, lunatic giant, idiot, stupid idiot friend, wuss, utter scumbag, weirdo), exclamations (bloody, bullocks, shut up), 19 religious exclamations.

SUBSTANCE USE - A man snorts what appears to be a line of cocaine (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details). Throughout the movie we see teens drinking in excess, a teen boy is shown to be extremely intoxicated and we see him continuing to drink liquor even after his friends suggest he is too drunk, we see four teen boys drinking liquor and beer at a bar, and a woman teases her teenage son and tells a group of people that at the age of 7 he had gotten drunk on brandy.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Friendship, fidelity in a relationship, revenge, teenage years, teen sexuality.

MESSAGE - All friendships must go through tribulations. Teens can be obsessed with sex.

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated , Special , Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.

REVIEWS See ratings & reviews at Critics.com

WEB LINKS Official Site    IMDb

FILTER by RATINGS Did you know you can now filter searches by any combination of ratings? Just go to our search page or use the search bar, with or without a keyword, from the top navigation menu. Move sliders from 0-10 in any combination, check and uncheck MPAA ratings and use keywords to further filter results -- please let us know what you think.

THE ASSIGNED NUMBERS Unlike the MPAA we do not assign one inscrutable rating based on age but 3 objective ratings for SEX/NUDITY , VIOLENCE/GORE & LANGUAGE on a scale of 0 to 10, from lowest to highest depending on quantity & context | more |

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Movie Review: The Inbetweeners Movie (2011)

• JohnnyHollywood
• Movie Reviews
• One response
• --> November 17, 2011

“I saw The Inbetweeners Movie last night, it was great.” “I’m sorry, the what?”

Despite this British sitcom’s surprisingly far-reaching fan base (not a single seat of the four hundred in my cinema was left unoccupied) I still find myself having to explain the show to family members, casual acquaintances and my favorite movie-loving cab driver on the way home.

So, a quick recap as the premise is simple: We follow four friends on the fringe of social status — somewhere between the “normal kids” and the “freaks” — as they meander their way through high school and its teenage perils. Picking up during the last day of school, these “inbetweeners” — the nerdy but level-headed narrator Will (Simon Bird), selfish relationship-dependent Simon (Joe Thomas), compulsive liar and big-noter Jay (James Buckley) and loveable dimwit Neil (Blake Harrison) — decide to book a party holiday to Greece to help Simon get over his break-up with Carli (Emily Head), but things get hairy when Simon, who is at the furthest point from being over his ex, spots her on the same trip.

If I had to justify why I liked this film with one sentence, it would be this: At no point does it stray from the formula that made the show so refreshing. The humor is there, as are the scenes of incredible social awkwardness, but this consistency begins with proper characterization. Every fan of the show has a personal favorite, and should be pleased to hear that their move to the big screen has not coerced creators Iain Morris and Damon Beesley into thinking they should customize the characters to suit a wider audience. By the end of The Inbetweeners Movie , each of the four is in an inherently better position in their life than they were two hours ago, but how they all get there remains entrenched in typical The Inbetweeners fashion.

What does this mean exactly? It means that the screenplay puts individual character development on the backburner for most of the film, instead preferring to fill every scene with a truckload of jokes ranging from slapstick, the spoken word and a merciless array of cringe-worthy moments; the kind that have become the niche of the series. In any other genre this could be considered a sour point, but comedies are granted exceptions on the basis that they exist primarily to entertain, not to provide a moral, or indeed, much deep thinking at all. Does each character learn something about their life through their experience in Greece? Sure. Should we expect them to let the rest of their life be guided by these same profound moments of clarity? I doubt it.

Anyone even slightly familiar with the series would also be aware of its unrelentingly crude subject matter, which some might interpret as vulgar or even offensive. That’s a personal call, and while it doesn’t concern my comedic sensibilities in the slightest, I must warn the more politically correct among us that this is not a movie for you. Few social taboos are left undisturbed, and when you couple this with the notion that filmmakers can get away with a lot more on the big screen, it is recommended that fence-sitters have a long think about how they feel about rude and crude humor, lest they return home with the unexplained compulsion to take a boiling hot bath and scrub until a little skin comes off.

If I had to make a couple of minor criticisms, I would say that a handful of party clichés are overdone (see: front-on shots of friends walking in slow-motion through a club with big grins on their faces) and that some realism is lost when Simon appears too gullible to be believed (you’ll know it when you see it). However, these moments are few and far between, and fail to detract from making The Inbetweeners Movie the funniest movie I’ve seen in a good few years.

A few years ago, a good friend of mine started calling me 'Hollywood' because of my love and knowledge of all things movies, and the name just stuck. Movies are my life. I love them so much that when people ask me why I even bother with law school, I reply with my life motto, and a quote from one of my favourite directors: 'I didn't go to film school. I went to films.' -Quentin Tarantino.

Movie Review: When You’re Strange (2009) Movie Review: Abduction (2011) Movie Review: Senna (2010) Movie Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011) Movie Review: Take Me Home Tonight (2011) Movie Review: The Kings of Mykonos (2010)

'Movie Review: The Inbetweeners Movie (2011)' has 1 comment

December 9, 2011 @ 9:04 pm Stevicus

I thought it funny but! I would have been a bit more critical of some things like the number of phallic sublims peppered throughout the film the most obvious being when the male stripper jumps to his knees and a girls arm lines up with his crotch suggesting an erection. The bully rep was a bit ott for me and wasnt even convincing, casting could have improved the situation but they deffo got that one wrong. I really do like the way they break up those blancmange moments with a sudden syncopated key change that leaves you in a state of “shock n awe” and i totally agree that this is the best comedy you will see for a long time..

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The inbetweeners, common sense media reviewers.

Teenage boys talk super dirty in witty high school comedy.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

The Inbetweeners takes a satirical look at teenage

Will and his group of friends are as filthy-minded

The main characters playfully wrestle and push eac

Constant, explicit sex talk. Characters talk about

Both bleeped ("s--t," "f--k"), and audible swearin

The Inbetweeners is an American remake of a Britis

Underage characters buy and drink liquor to the po

Parents need to know that The Inbetweeners is a raunchy comedy centering on four teen boys and their high school trials and tribulations. The four boys lust non-stop after women and indulge in some very dirty talk, which ranges from a discussion of whether one character's father is gay to the advantages of…

Positive Messages

The Inbetweeners takes a satirical look at teenage boyhood. Underneath all the sexual humor are some positive messages about friendship and the struggle to find your place in the world.

Positive Role Models

Will and his group of friends are as filthy-minded and dirty-mouthed as any teenage boys ever shown on television, but they're not actually bad guys. They usually mean well, they like each other and their parents, and though they view females mostly as sex objects, their sex talk generally isn't hateful, and they treat real girls rather respectfully and shyly. They're constantly ranking each other out, but they're supportive of each other in ways that will resonate with teen viewers. Parents, the school principal, and other authority figures are present and well-meaning, if not always aware of the hijinks going on with Will and his friends.

Violence & Scariness

The main characters playfully wrestle and push each other a lot; stereotypical bullies are often on hand to shove the guys or humiliate them, as when a hulking football player snaps a photo of Will sitting on the toilet with his pants down.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Constant, explicit sex talk. Characters talk about double penetration, how to make females orgasm, Will's mom being a MILF, boners, and a host of other topics that will make parents shudder and teens giggle. But it's all talk: Very little skin is shown, and the teens are seeking sex, not having it.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Both bleeped ("s--t," "f--k"), and audible swearing ("ass," "bitches"), as well as near-constant smutty talk about "sluts," "holes," "beavers," and the like.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

The Inbetweeners is an American remake of a British show ; teens may want to watch the original, which is just as raunchy.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Underage characters buy and drink liquor to the point of drunkenness and embarrassing behavior. There are references to "drug raves," cocaine, and heroin, though the characters don't actually do drugs on screen.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Inbetweeners is a raunchy comedy centering on four teen boys and their high school trials and tribulations. The four boys lust non-stop after women and indulge in some very dirty talk, which ranges from a discussion of whether one character's father is gay to the advantages of having sex with "RV girls" who are usually "sluts." In addition to talking constantly about sex in very explicit terms, the underage characters buy and drink alcohol, skip school, and sneak around visiting love interests without parents' knowledge. But although the characters talk and fantasize constantly about sex, sex never actually occurs on screen, and female characters are presented as relatable, whole people instead of objects. Expect drug references and some bleeped language ("f--k," "s--t") and some audible cursing ("ass," "bitch").

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (2)
• Kids say (7)

Based on 2 parent reviews

Bad copy of a funny British show

What's the story.

New guy at school Will (Joey Pollari) is immediately befriended by Jay (Zack Pearlman), Simon (Bubba Lewis), and Neil (Mark L. Young), three fellas who aren't exactly nerds but aren't exactly popular, either. In the grand fashion of on-screen teen boys, they lust nonstop after women, make up salacious stories about their sexual exploits, and engage in hijinks like pointing out to the entire lunch room that one of their cohorts has an erection and skipping school to drink vodka because they surmise that girls like rebels. But when actual girls appear, the boys tend to transform from swagger to stuttering, and all their sex talk is just that: talk.

Is It Any Good?

There's a very sharp writerly hand on the wheel of THE INBETWEENERS, which elevates the humor from dumb raunch to truly inspired filthiness in the same way the original British series did. But there's plenty here to trouble parents, who would probably prefer to watch the show themselves for a laugh, rather than have teens tune in. One gag will illustrate this concept: Will shows up to skip school with his friends and lies to one of their mothers that the van parked down the street is his. "I know it's a little molestery," he says, "but I got a great deal, from a molester. But he didn't molest in it, he just used it to um, transport for molesting." A few minutes later, the boys pass the van as a shirtless man leans out and offers them a ride. "Maybe later," says Simon. "You got cool muscles." A few minutes later, Will refers to having "dodged a rape."

If that set up and dialogue is hilarious to you, you'll find The Inbetweeners hysterical. And teens who are able to distinguish reality from hyperreal satire will probably also find The Inbetweeners very funny. But parents will want to talk to teens about sex, underage drinking, and treating each other with dignity and respect after they watch, though it would probably be too embarrassing to actually sit through all the sex jokes and watch together.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about whether the way the characters talk on The Inbetweeners is realistic. Teens: Is this the way you talk with your friends? Do you hear others talking this way?

How do you think the girls on the show would feel if they heard the boys' discussions? Do you think this is the way real teens think about sex ? Parents, talk to your teens about your own values regarding sex and relationships.

How does the show depict drinking ? Do you think it's realistic? What consequences to the characters face?

The principal and parents on The Inbetweeners are presented as being somewhat oblivious to what the main characters are up to. In your family, how do parents keep track of kids' activities? Do you think The Inbetweeners ' teens could use more supervision?

How old do you think the actors playing teens on The Inbetweeners really are? Would it surprise you to learn that some cast members playing teens are actually in their twenties? Why do TV shows frequently use twentysomethings to play teens?

• Premiere date : January 25, 2010
• Cast : Bubba Lewis , Joey Pollari , Mark L. Young , Zack Pearlman
• Network : MTV
• Genre : Comedy
• Topics : Friendship , High School
• TV rating : TV-14
• Last updated : October 23, 2022

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

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Season 1 – The Inbetweeners

Where to watch, the inbetweeners — season 1.

Watch The Inbetweeners — Season 1 with a subscription on Prime Video.

What to Know

The Inbetweeners distinguishes itself from other sex-crazed teenage comedies with a sweetly irreverent take on the pain of pubescence.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

James Buckley

Blake Harrison

Greg Davies

Henry Lloyd-Hughes

More Like This

Season info.