Inbetweeners 2, The

Stars: Simon Bird, Joe Thomas, James Buckley, Blake Harrison, Emily Berrington, Tamla Kari, Freddie Stroma

Director: Damon Beesley, Iain Morris

If the idea of an unashamedly filthy comedy (minus subtitles which, if present, might have enabled you to claim that it wasnt filth but Art) leaves you cold, then give this salacious sequel a wide berth.

The lewd adventures of the four misfits, first seen on Channel 4 (where else?) created an hit TV series and led to their box-office busting big screen debut in 2011s The Inbetweeners Movie.

Now Simon Bird, James Buckley, Joe Thomas, Blake Harrison return in a sequel that, unusually, is even funnier than the first film. While writer-directors Damon Beesley and Iain Morris are unlikely to be hailed as auteurs they triumphantly prove they know exactly what theyre doing: the sequel is already a hit with audiences who prefer arse jokes rather than humour involving art.

The opening sequence - three hooded figures stalk through a mist accompanied by hackney Hammer Horror-style music and arrive at a creepy mansion, only to be revealed as Harrison, Thomas and Bird dressed as characters from 'Harry Potter' to attend what they believe to be a fancy-dress party.

After which, any trace of good taste is enjoyably excised.

Harrison, Thomas and Bird receive an invitation from Buckley to join him in Australia The sex capital of the world - where he is living high as disco DJ Big Penis. They turn up in Sydney and insult Australia's greatest claim to culture, the Sydney Opera House after which reality intrudes Buckley turns out to be working in the disco toilet and living in a tent on his uncles lawn.

After which the Filthy Four (all giving perfect performances in the circumstances) go backpacking on a low, lewd and regrettably hilarious safari in the gaudily image-covered car they dub the classic Australian shagging wagon that gives an unfortunate new meaning to the phrase Down Under.

Prepare to laugh (and then possibly claim you didnt mean to) at the quartets crude and crazy sex and slapstick adventures, which include an unforgettably funny (Ive given up attempting to erase the sequence from my memory) when one character ends up racing down a water slide pursued by human faeces. Sex jokes, toilet humour and general filth that might well raise a blush on the faces of devoted members of the School of Apatow kept me laughing happily and simply enjoying an accurately audience-aimed low comedy that delivers high rewards and makes the Australian-set Priscilla, Queen of the Desert resemble Enid Blyton by comparison.

Alan Frank

UK 2014. UK Distributor: Entertainment Film Distributors. Colour.
96 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 3, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 2, Swearing 3.

Review date: 09 Aug 2014