Junior Bridget Jones
There is one thing for certain "Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging" is a movie made for young girls and no one else and as such being neither young or a girl I found myself ultimately bored stiff in this teenage coming of age movie. It was exactly the same feeling I had when watching the "Bridget Jones's Diary" movie and in a way "Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging" is "Bridget Jones" for teenage girls especially with it's almost Diary like styling. But despite finding it all a bit painful I am pretty sure that not only will young girls find the frank humour amusing but quite possibly help them realise that their own lives are not as bad as they may feel.
Georgia Nicolson's (Georgia Groome) 15th birthday is looming and wanting to move on from being a little girl has asked her dad Bob (Alan Davies) for a proper party at a nightclub, she also wants a boyfriend. Whilst she struggles to convince her embarrassing parents into giving her a party at a nightclub she does have a chance of landing a boyfriend, the new kid in school Robbie (Aaron Johnson - The Illusionist) who has just moved to Eastbourne.
Based upon two books by Louise Rennison "Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging" actually fills a gap in the movie market as whilst there are coming of age movies for teenage boys there is little for British teenage girls. And whilst I don't know what a teenage girl goes through the events which occur as we watch Georgia struggle with embarrassing parents, crushes and humiliation all seem quite reasonable. Of course these events are played for comic effect and so veer more towards the fantasy than the real but it kind of works as Georgia has one crisis after another which she often shares with her little gang of girl friends. And as such I am sure young girls will be able to watch Georgia's various encounters with humiliation and probably feel better about themselves. Although it does seem to end up copping out and delivering one seriously cheesy happy ever after ending.
As for the humour well it is very middle of the road as we watch Georgia stress over her looks, worry about her first proper kiss, leading to an embarrassing episode with a young boy who gives lessons in kissing and so on and so forth. Whilst the comedy is fun, it's not really that amusing and seems to border on the cheesy far too often as it tries to make more of Georgia's humiliation than necessary. And to be honest the whole sub plot about Georgia's mum and a handsome interior designer played by Steve Jones feels like it shouldn't even be there, failing to deliver the laughs even when the truth is revealed during that happy every after ending.
As for the acting well strangely for a movie which I struggled to enjoy the acting of Georgia Groome as Georgia Nicolson was impressive because whilst she delivered all of the expected turmoil's of a teenager she never went over the top when it comes to the humiliation. In a way it was a very natural performance which worked well with her close group of girl friends delivering what you would say was a group of typical teenage characters. The acting elsewhere wasn't so impressive and whilst Alan Davies was amusing as Georgia's embarrassing father the character seemed too detached from reality as was the case with Karen Taylor who plays Georgia's mother Connie. And as for Georgia's object of her affections well Aaron Johnson as Robbie basically goes for nice and sensitive and as such it works but is so unmemorable.
What all of this boils down to is that "Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging" is a coming of age movie made for teenage girls and no one else. As such all the girly teenage turmoil's ended up a little too annoying as did much of the humour. But as a movie made for teenage girls who are going through the crisis of boyfriends "Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging" probably works.
Tags: British Romantic Comedies
