Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008)

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Did you people see the same film I saw?

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

The movie is surprisingly subdued in its pacing, its characterizations, and its go-for-broke sensibilities.

First things first, Angus, Thong and Perfect Snogging isn't going to win any awards for being the best movie of all time and objectively, it's pretty damn awful, but I still enjoyed watching it. It's easy to watch, stupidly funny and everything you'd expect from a typical teenage chick-flick/comedy made in the noughties. The cliches are unbearably cringe and the stereotypes are all wrong (your typical plain girl Jane gets the best looking guy in school and in the process butts heads with his pretty blonde girlfriend that is by default a brat) but this isn't a movie that should be taken seriously. It's definitely not a realistic take on what it's like to be a teenage girl since it's over-invested in those teenage girl stereotypes from American movies - late night sleep-overs, bitchiness, naivety, boy obsessed etc. On that note, considering this movie was British, it didn't feel very British at all and the behaviours of the characters and general feel of the movie felt more American than British (the only British elements to the movie were the accents and the setting). However, this movie works if you're looking to switch your brain off and have a few giggles. It is feel-good and improved my mood, so for me, that's what earns it the rating I've given it.

All around funny, well written well acted coming of age comedy for tween-aged girls. The antagonist is pretty, bossy, mean, stuck up blonde named Lyndsay who's "Nunga Nungas" are the center of her social gravity. What Lyndsay doesn't know is that Georgia and her friends have discovered that Lyndsay is secretly wearing falsies a fact they are perfectly happy to keep to themselves, until Lyndsay shows up to Georgia's sweet sixteen party and throws massive, public, shade Georgia's way. You guessed it, Lyndsay gets "busted." A fairly well done reveal but some of the camera angles chosen are not ideal. Overall artifice-exposed fans will love it.

Probably I have to start by saying that I'm a 31 year old wife from Indonesia, that's in south east Asia if you don't know, so I was pretty much being brought up by Eastern tradition. And hence when I saw that this movie was presented by Nickelodeon, I thought it was the same Nick that produced the Avatar, which is awesome kids cartoon. And I had a good laugh watching the opening scene, which is pretty comical. The parents kissing was uncomfortable, but okay - I think it's a cute teens movie... though I start to get my suspicion when they started to stalk a character and seeing the character taking off their clothes. But I thought, all right, it's a British movie - I don't know anything about British little girls but maybe that's how they are and that it's acceptable. UNTIL that snogging session with the "kissing instructor" happened!! That was gross!! And then the "thong" thing on the changing room happened. And then all the innuendo happened. And then I realized that this is NOT as much a kid's movie as it's a weird, awkward, bizarre movie with child actors (hello, the Indian girl can't be older than 13).Yes, it's up to "step 6" so probably the maker thought it was 'okay' - I mean, no groping, right? Of course! They are British people with British culture, what am I doing comparing the movie to the norm around here? So of course, I'm biased. But still the movie is weird. Like it's an HBO movie that tries hard to be sexual but still PG-13. I can't say I hate the movie because it has a nice plot and a happy ending, I just hate how children are being pictured in the movie.

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, an attempt to cash in on the quirky British teen book of the same name...no wait...that was called 'Angus, Thongs and Full-frontal Snogging', my mistake. I know, that name is just so darn raunchy.Anyhow, I saw nothing in the film which warrants a theatrical release. You'll find nothing here that you wouldn't find on any other teen girl series on CBBC. You have the awkward 14 year-old girl Georgia and her quest to find the hottest guy evarrr in time for her birthday party, helped by her bratty friends. Dramatic stuff right?I wouldn't say there's anything necessarily wrong with this, I just don't see why it needed to be released in theatres. By the end, I'm like "so what?"Even on it's own level, everyone but pre-teen girls are going to be annoyed by the film and it's stereotypical view of British adolescent life. Basically, the characters have their priorities all wrong and don't learn a satisfactory lesson. This could be potentially harmful to it's audience, much worse than any violence or bad language, in my opinion. That leads me to my other main problem with the film: it doesn't know which tone it's going for. Georgia describes the love interest as a "sex God", a tad inappropriate considering that the furthest anyone gets is a good snog. If you had a film tackling issues of teen sexuality, that would be a film I would like to see. This is your average teeny girl nonsense which will be forgotten soon enough.I don't recommend this to anyone but the target audience. If you are part of it, don't make your parents watch it.