Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008) - Gurinder Chadha

Synopsis:

A 14-year old desperately seeks higher social standing and the boy of her dreams must battle against her suffocating family, the most popular girl in school and a wealth of other teenage issues. 

Everything about this film screams to me DON'T WATCH. Yet there I was (again) sitting down to watch Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging. However... There's a reason I would sit down to it for a (I think) third time and that's because it's actually not that bad. I would probably never choose to sit down and watch alone but if it so happens to be on television and my girlfriend so happens to put it on a little bit inside me will actually be glad she ignored my protests.

I don't know what it is... maybe it's a combination of my own curiosity as to how girls think and me finding pleasure in someone having a more awkward teenage experience than me. I suppose it's human nature to enjoy watching other people squirm, but kind of humorous to look back at the younger version of ourselves. The bottom line is we thought we were the beez kneez, but if anything this film shows us that we weren't and if anything, we were losers (well I wasn't but generally teenagers are). The girls are so insecure and easily embarrassed by things that weren’t socially normal for them that they come off extremely naïve. It'd be interesting to know how somebody that age would view the film compared to someone much older. Thankfully there's always that revelation and maturity that comes with these kind of films which leaves you feeling good.

Unfortunately the acting is a little sub par. The lead does a good job but, particularly during the more cringe-worthy dialogue (e.g “Phwoar... He's got a fit bum”), almost everyone comes off forced. To be fair it'd be pretty hard for anyone to make lines like that come off convincingly. It could just be the nature of the script or even the direction that lacks believability. Instead of going along with it I would maybe laugh, as intended, but it would be after delivering a rather nasty face palm to myself. You could hardly listen to a line without thinking how crazy they sound. But then I remembered how crazy teenage girls are and even though it's painful at first the craziness remains consistent and you find yourself going along with it.

Overview:

Quite a short review here. But then there's not much to say. Despite it being cringe-tacular (I'm using hip teenage slang) it has it's moments. It's nothing special but a delightful little thing to waste away a bit of the afternoon with.

Rating:
★★★