School can be a riot
Rating: 6/10
Running Time: 97 minutes
US Certificate: PG-13 UK Certificate: 12A
On DVD
The noughties remake of The Belles of St Trinians is quite a surprising movie in that is not as bad as I had thought it would be. It’s not good, it’s just not awful either. Initially a little apprehensive, I was rohypnoled and bundled into the boot of my girlfriends car, and awoke to Russell Brands handsomely dishevelled face and the appallingly behaved public schoolgirls of St Trinian’s. After this initial shock I was happily treated to a pretty fresh, surprisingly funny movie complemented with lots of nice little nudges to film and pop culture.
It does try a little too hard to be hip with it’s numerous espionage montages and some of the kids are very annoying. Saving the school from closure, cheating in the national school quiz and filling the school with stereotypes has all been done before but it does inject a big dollop of fun into proceedings . The ‘fun’ is certainly not to everyone’s taste, as is the cringing ‘Girl Power’ soundtrack and the screeching posh girls running riot. American audiences may also struggle with the Britishness of it all.
For a film thats aimed at tweenagers, its a little strange to have many of the children blatantly being played by thirty year olds running around in kinky schoolgirl outfits. Not that I was necessarily complaining. Finally, for our Russell Brand-obsessed cousins across the pond, the silver-tongued lothario plays the school’s criminal mastermind with his usual loquacious affability (I can do it too) and comes out of it with his reputation intact.
It's Got: Russell Brand in good form, some decent laughs
It Needs: To be judged for what it is - simple fun
DVD Extras The Official School Diary featurette, Never-Before-Seen Deleted Scenes and a woeful Girls Aloud "St. Trinian's Chant Music" Video. Finally, a decent Blooper reel. DVD Extras Rating: 6/10
Summary
For a brainless girl’s night in you can’t really go wrong with this simple comedy outing – unless you’re a man or over thirty, in which case, steer well clear.