Incredibly, suprisingly funny, with an uncommon spirit for a teen movie. Marvelllous Rupert Everett, and don't miss the cult "wet-shirt" scene of Mr Firth ;)
Funny mainly as a result of the Rupert Everett characters. There was a strange mix of light and dark humour throughout, so I was never quite sure what kind of audience this film was aimed at. Ditto: "Surprisingly enjoyable comedy with strong comic performances, lively direction and several decent gags."
well...it's certainly not good. but it is sort of mesmerising. there's a lot of glbt and drug references...i have no idea who the target audience of this film is supposed to be! possibly me, when bored and unable to get out of bed in the middle of the afternoon.
Wildly funny of an infamous school for young ladies based in the legendary British comedy series. Actor Rupert Everett dressed drag as the female headmistress - THAT SUCKS! But he does a good comic performance.
such a good cast and it's a huge shame their abilities are not fully utilised due to the average storyline. enjoyable film but could have been better for sure. rupert everett is hiliarious as miss fritton.
Big fan of Russel brand, as a comic and an actor, but he wasnt great in this, not because hes not a good actor but because it wasnt a great film. In fact none of the acting was 'bad', even the directing was good...so why did i fail to enjoy this movie? Crap script and a very strange view of the meaning of anarchy. Looked more like organised criminal capitalism to me (not that theres anything wrong with that in my opinion, but it still isnt really anarchy). Entertains well enough, is even occasionally funny, but theres alot of movies out there that are far better choices to spend you time and/or money watching.
this was very funny film and wot was funnier was rosanna singing the theme tune at the metro train station lol was ironic though tht the dog was called mr darcy and colin firth who played the school inspector also has played mr darcy in pride and prejudice lol after watching the old st trinians i can see the similarities which were cool anyways i blithered enough now. gd film =)
school prats lol the girls are baaaadddd!!! lol n funny too. quite interesting and props to the director as this is one of the few british comedy i found to be really ok. i like watching kathryn drysdale in this tho, she's a joker.
"Daddy, you can't expect me to stay here. It's like Hogwarts for Pikeys!"
It was inevitable that the "St Trinian's" series would be revived. Ronald Searle's cartoons, created during the Second World War, dealt with life at a bizarre girls' boarding school, and formed the inspiration for four hit feature films made between 1954 and 1966. An attempt was made to revive the franchise in 1980 with The Wildcats of St. Trinian's, but much like the 1992 Carry on Columbus, it lacked the charm of the original series.
For this 2007 revamp, co-directors Barnaby Thompson and Oliver Parker (An Ideal Husband, The Importance of Being Earnest) have done an able job of bringing the series back to life. The film features a strong cast, is suitably anarchic and frequently hilarious. It's spot-on for entertaining its target audience of 12-year-old girls and averagely fun for the rest.
Rupert Everett takes two roles here, just as Alastair Sim did in the original films. We meet the first, scheming art dealer Carnaby Fritton, as he delivers his anxious daughter Annabelle (Talulah Riley, Mary Bennet in Joe Wright's Pride & Prejudice), who has left the rather more refined Cheltenham Girls School, to the semi-derelict country house that is St Trinian's. St Trinian's is run by Carnaby's sister, Camilla, who's also played by Everett, done up in broad country ma'am drag. Annabelle is introduced to the school's different factions: chavs, posh tottie, geeks, organised crime first years and the "We're-not-goths-we're-emos", all of whom are presided over by head girl Kelly (Gemma Arterton, who we'll soon see again in Quantum of Solace).
The kids get little in the way of formal teaching, but instead play with guns with army vet Miss Cleaver (Fenella Woolgar) or learn how to talk their way out of a dodgy drug deal by Miss Maupassant (Caterina Murino), the object of desire for the school's treasurer (Toby Jones). Alongside the teaching staff, there's also Flash Harry, the petty criminal, played by George Cole in the original films. Here the mantle is passed to Russell Brand, who shamelessly plays the classic role, complete with trademark jewellery and a small chemical plant's worth of hairspray. The girls work with him to sell their killer vodka, cooked up in the chemistry labs, and their designer tampons (cue that old "What's this?" gag from the The Young Ones).
St Trinian's' slow set-up is its biggest flaw. There's a string of great, sketch-like set-pieces though, including a school weapons amnesty, and some cheeky dialogue. Like all the best films aimed at younger audiences, St Trinian's packs in a lot that kids won't necessarily pick up on - notably drug references (signs doctored from "Keep off the grass" to "Keep off your head"; "Does anybody have any smelling salts?" "No, but I've got poppers", etc.) as well as asides about the acting careers of Everett and Colin Firth.
Firth plays the nominal nemesis, Minister of Education Geoffrey Thwaites who's determined to give a "good kick up the arse" to poorly performing schools, exemplified by St Trinian's. He was also the lover of Camilla at university - "Another time", "Another country" they say to each other, in a nod to the 1984 drama in which they both starred. To milk the film references yet further, we get Firth reprising his wet shirt scene from '"Pride and Prejudice"', and Camilla's dog is called Mr Darcy. It's not sophisticated, but it is fun.
After some cruel initiation Annabelle becomes a St Trinian, and when the school is faced with foreclosure from £500,000 debts and Carnaby's dubious intentions to turn it into a boutique hotel, she's at the heart of a plan to save the school through some elaborate art theft. When Kelly suggests stealing Vermeer's Girl With The Pearl Earring, the dim posh tottie girls Chelsea (Tamsin Egerton), Peaches (Amara Karan, who played Rita the train stewardess in The Darjeeling Limited) and Chloe (Antonia Bernath) respond with "Oh my God, you want to steal Scarlett Johansson!?" Cue more inter-textual nods to Firth, who also starred in that film.
To pull the stunt off, the girls have to reach the final of "School Challenge", a quiz show hosted by Stephen Fry, which is taking place at the National Gallery. This pleases prissy English teacher Miss Dickinson (Lena Headey) no end, though of course she's oblivious to their dubious methods (sex, drugs, technology) for beating Ampleforth, Bedales and Eton. The girls' plan involves Flash pretending to be a gay German black market art dealer and the pupils going all Mission: Impossible, complete with an animated sequence that nicely references the style of Searle's original cartoons.
The film's girl power message is thoroughly laboured, and the story occasionally grinds to a standstill. But when that happens the filmmakers carefully come up with a quick scene of the girls screaming and dancing madly to a classic rock cover, or cut back to the Everett-Firth double-act, which has plenty of chemistry even when the lines are groaners. (Everett appears in full Elizabeth I regalia and asks, "Don't you think I make a good queen?")
Ultimately, the film manages to be both anarchic and edgy. The drug references may seem almost quaint to UK audiences, but how they'll wash in the US is another matter; and the film does have a US market in mind, as is made clear in the occasional but overt Americanisation. Yet the tone is also warmly conservative. As the Spice Girls once so helpfully explained, girl power is about female empowerment, but it's also about solidarity. Here the girls do their own thing with wild abandon, but also work together to save the school. Heavy-handed at times and poorly plotted, but energetic and funny. A suitably undignified return to the screen for the notorious school and its out-of-control pupils. Those who aren't familiar with the original cartoons should skip this, 'cause there's nothing here for them.
This movie is anarchy from beginning to end, making it devilishly fun! Its outragious mayhem will have you wanting more and more. A witty, unique and a more cultured version of your typical teen high school flick. The one thing that drove me nuts about this movie and thus bringing its rating down a notch was the fact that Rupert Everett flayed the headmistress. This was completely unnecessary and infact, downplayed the character so much so that it become rather annoying. All in all though I do reccomend checking out this film, especialy those of you who enjoy something a little more out there than your typical cliche american made films of today.
From a very personal point of view, Oliver Parker's best film... Sense of humor, swift pace, wonderful youth cast is a good sign for a high school anarchistic comedy, but as a sensational re-emergence of Ealing, there are too many low points: double roles of Everett is nothing in comparison to what Sir Guiness did in Ealing classic, KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS; contempo parody of Firth's recent roles already seems outdated and expired; and of course, it is not too british as if the golden touch of Ealing has missed out this one...
I found this a fun movie to watch. Its not at all realistic or logical but thats part of what made it so fun to watch plus I loved the way each character dressed according to thier stereotype.
Interesting choice for a movie franchise revival. The moving force is Rupert Everett who does double duty and the result is better than I expected. There is some very funny riffing of Colin Firth and his past escapades as Mr Darcy.
i dont really want to see this movie but i do like Russel Brand so i might consider it. i don kow if hes in most of the film or if hes on the one part as its on the trailer
SOOOOO FUNNY!!!! i luved every second of it! i can't wait for it to come out on dvd! i almost fell of the cinema seat in a laughing fit coz it ded funny!
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