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Recent releases:
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Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie
Stars: Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, Julia Sawalha, Jane Horrocks, June Whitfield, Celia Imrie, Kathy Burke, Rebel Wilson, Kate Moss, Lulu, Emma Bunton, Robert Webb, Barry Humphries, Joan Collins
Director: Mandie Fletcher
Screenwriter/star Saunders appears to have run out of comic invention early on, so that the resulting ever more hectic but less and less amusing monkeyshines soon become irksome rather than amusing.
Saunders essential storyline has her being humiliated by a publisher who passes on her proposed autobiography, leaving her having to revive her PR business by acquiring Kate Moss as a client for London Fashion Week.
The legendary model vanishes and Saunders is accused of murder
More misfiring capers continue when Saunders and Lumley head for the South of France to raise money, convincingly pose as dress store dummies and offer more opportunities for even more pointless guest stars including Joan Collins, Baby Spice, Stella McCartney, Jerry Hall, Lulu et al, many of them playing themselves with a reasonable level of credibility.
Unlike missing model Moss who eventually turns up unharmed from immersion in the Thames (wooden enough to float, perhaps?) second-time feature film director Mandie Fletcher wasnt so fortunate, delivering a mostly mirthless jumble designed to please Saunders and Lumley considerably more than entertain mere paying audiences.
Alan Frank
UK/USA 2016. UK Distributor: 20th Century Fox. Colour.
87 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.
Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 2, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 2, Swearing 2.
Review date: 05 Dec 2016